Reduced Mass
by DavidJ647
Summary: After a severe skiing accident, I find myself right smack in the middle of the Mass Effect universe with no idea on how I got here. Only problem, I'm 9 years too early. Will I survive what's to come? Only time will tell. Self-Insert.
1. Prologue

_Hey everyone! David here with the first story of my Mass Effect SI series called Reduced Mass (Name doesn't really have anything to do with the story, I just wanted a title that had the word mass in it :S). This is my first real foray into the world of fan fiction and I am more than excited to share my first real story with you! For months now I've been trying to convince myself to write a Mass Effect SI but I was too scared to actually publish it because when it comes to writing, I always think that what I write is absolute shite. But this time, in some weird way, I convinced myself that I was going to do this, as I love reading fan fiction and want to contribute some great to this website._

_This SI is going to be 6 stories long, with the first two taking place before the events of ME1, the third following the events of ME1, the fourth following the Protagonists adventures between ME1 and 2, the fifth story following the events of ME2 and ultimately having the sixth story following the events of ME3 (I don't know if I'm going to follow canon yet, but I can decide that when the time comes.). I'm taking my time on this project, as I don't want this to become a poorly written, 10k world, incomplete fan fiction. This fic is going to have countless OC's, original storylines, a Gary Stu free environment, and realistic character development._

_I always appreciate reviews, criticism and feedback as that is what ultimately makes me improve as an author. I do have writing experience but this is my first SI, so if I do anything blatantly, obviously wrong, make sure to tell me. If you want to help me in developing the story further, just PM me!_

_Now without further ado, I present to you Reduced Mass!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or anything related to it. It is the property of Bioware and EA. I have no intention of stealing anything. That'd be pretty stupid of me. The OC Character do belong to me though.  
**

* * *

My name is David, and I was brought into the Mass Effect universe by a Guardian Angel. Now I know you're probably just going to brush me off as crazy, maybe even call the Police on me, the man that has gone insane and needs to be checked into a looney bin, but I assure you what I'm about to tell you truly happened. About 12 years ago, I was on a ski trip with my friends. I was the ripe age of 19 and I had just finished school. If you're asking as to why I didn't finish school at the age of 18, I managed to fail 9th grade and had to repeat it. It was during my 'I don't give a fuck phase' and I regret it till this day.

Anyway, I was on a weeklong ski trip with 4 of my buddies, who had all just finished school with me in July of that year. That year was 2014. The ski trip itself was the last real free time I would have for a long time. While I did nothing really productive from July to November, 3 months after Christmas I would start basic training. I enlisted with the Bundeswehr right after I finished school and since then, I've been trying to get myself into shape so I wouldn't be a complete embarrassment when I actually started my training. Other than that, I was working a part time job at an old folk's home, tending to the elderly. Thinking back on it now, it was a pretty damn good life that I was leading. I mean, I had an income although it wasn't much, I had loving parents, good friends and a kickass dog. I was a busy 'man' during this time and the ski trip would help me unwind and relax one last time before real life and responsibilities would come to dropkick me in the nuts.

The ski trip was one of the best times I'd had during this time in my life. Who doesn't love one week of freedom on amazing slopes in a beautiful country? Add 4 great friends into the mix and it is bound to be one of the craziest, most fun experiences one can have. We packed all our stuff and met at Michael's, one of my friends' houses. He had the biggest car and we would need it if we were to successfully transport 5 sets of ski gear to Austria. Living in Germany comes with its benefits. It's literally less than a day's drive to any of the 9 countries that border it. I was born in Germany, Hanover to be exact. I lived there until I was 6 years old, and then my family moved to Canada for 7 years. I became somewhat of a native speaker in both the English and German language, which has helped me to a great extent in my life.

From Hanover, it was a 9 hour drive to the place we were staying at, which was located directly on the mountain by a black diamond slope. It couldn't get any better. We arrived in the afternoon, got the keys to our lodge, geared up and instantly hit the slopes. I could write ten thousand novels on why I love skiing and I still wouldn't have listed all the reasons as to why skiing is absolutely badass. I've been skiing since I was 6 years old and every year my family and I would go on a weeklong ski trip. This year was different as my parents decided to go on their own vacation as they wanted to experience a warmer side of Europe. So I gathered my 4 closest friends and off we went!

The week itself was awesome, but it is nothing worth noting here. Until we reach the last day that it. It was our last run down the slope closest to our lodge and we were ready to return after a long day of skiing.

* * *

"Last one down the slope buys the beer!" I wasn't sure which one of my friends said it, but I wasn't going to buy any beer today. It was our last run of the day on the slope closest to our lodge. It also happened to be the most populated one at this time of day as it was the closest to the main lodge of the resort. I didn't manage to get onto a chair life with all 4 of my friends, so we split up. Michael and I took one lift, and the others took the one behind us.

"I'm going to miss this place." I say, glancing over to Michael who was looking the other way, enjoying the panoramic view of the Alps. "It's been a damn good week."

"Huh?" Came the reply from next to me. Michael zones out of conversations regularly, so this was a common occurrence.

"I said that I'm going to miss this place and that this was a goddamn great weeks with you guys." I'm sincerely hoping he hasn't zoned out again.

"Yeah it was, wasn't it," he replies then looks over to me. "We should do this more often."

"Would be great, but it'll become less likely to happen once basic begins." I nod. "And after basic I'm gonna be busy with all the crap the military flings at you, you know?" I look around, taking in the beautiful view while sighing sadly. "I don't think I'm going to be back here for a few years."

"There's no reason to upset over that," he says, giving me a small pat on my shoulder. "The mountains sure as hell aren't going anywhere, and knowing you you're probably going to ski yourself to death after you've retired." He smiles at me and then continues speaking. "Hell, I think that's the only appropriate way for you to die."

I laugh, feeling my previous mopey thoughts drift away for the moment. Michael always finds a way to cheer me up when I'm feeling down.

"You're right, I shouldn't be dragging you down to depression town with me." I say whilst laughing. "Besides, this trip isn't quite over yet is it? I'm sure as hell I'm not going to be the one buying you assholes beer"

Michael snorts at the remark. "I wouldn't bet on that, I've been practicing knocking people off skis when I go past them yesterday, it's surprisingly effective."

"Oh please, what kind of person would willingly practice this nonsense with you?"

"Who said anything about willingly?"

I laugh again, shaking my head. "How many people did you kill while knocking them off their skis?"

He looks away thoughtfully, furrowing his brows before looking back to me.

"I've lost count, but the ones I do remember won't be missed." He says with a menacing tone.

"Please, please, please tell me you knocked Justin Bieber off of his skis."

The chair lift reaches the part where we're supposed to lift the restraint that's keeping us from falling out. We lift the restraint and get ready to disembark the lift.

Michael looks at me as if I'm stupid.

"Really dude, do you think I hit girls?"

"Fair point," I reply. My skis finally touch the snow and he stand up from the lift that is now making a round back down the mountain to pick up the next load of skiers. We ski away from the lift and a few meters down the slope, we stop to wait for the other 3 idiots to show up.

A few seconds later, they do and we all finally gather together on a flat part of the slope.

"Alright, here are the rules" Dennis begins to explain. "We start the race right here, and the last one to the front door of the lodge loses."

"What's the loser have to buy?" Nicholas asks. He's the newest to join the group of friends as he only moved to Hanover from Cologne 5 months ago. We call him Nico for short.

"2 Cases of Beer, winner gets to choose the brand." Dennis replies and looks to everyone else. "Rules understood?"

We all nod, giving our confirmation in short, one word answers.

"Well, everyone get in a damn line then."

Dennis points to a flatter area of the part of the slope we're standing on. We promptly lined up and waited from Dennis the give the countdown. The slope itself was a pretty tough route to ski down. It had at least 2 90degree turns, and at high speeds, you have to be a pretty damn good skier to not wipe out. It wouldn't be that hard if the track was wide, but the track was only about as wide as a dual lane road where the turns were.

"Alright, everyone ready?" Dennis looks down the line before putting on his ski goggles.

I pull my goggles over my eyes, bathing everything in a pleasant orange light. It always looks like constant sunset.

"3, 2, 1, GO!"

All 5 of us are off almost immediately. The adrenaline rush kicks in right away as we round the first turn almost in unison. Right after the turn, Nico and I pull away from the rest of the group on the steep slope down. Apart from Nico, I've been skiing the longest time, so we make up the front of the group. Dennis, Gregor and Michael are close behind and Lukas is last. It's really between Nico and me as to who gets to choose the brand of beer.

We reach a large part of the slope that hasn't been groomed properly. This is where skiing at a high speed becomes virtually impossible without taking a tumble. Large snow piles line the slope and my skis regularly get stuck in them. I manage to keep my balance though. Gregor isn't so lucky and gets his skis stuck in said snow pile, flying off of his skis. I hear him curse from behind me. I chuckle to myself. Gregor always seems to be the one to wipe out. Don't get me wrong, he's a pretty good skier, but he always underestimates every part of a slope, which equals him wiping out at least once every time. He never gets seriously injured though, so that's a plus.

There's one more turn until we reach the lodge, and it's still between me and Nico. It's just a straight shot down the slope so whoever manages the highest top speed will win. I look behind me and see Nico gaining on me. While I make my way down the hill in a somewhat controlled manor, Nico is just cruising down in a straight line. It's about 400m to the lodge and just as I turn my head back to where I'm going, I see him shoot past me.

I frown. Nico's taste in beer is absolutely horrendous. I refuse to drink anything that he wants Lukas to buy. Come to think of it, I wonder if he's actually caught up with the rest of us. Gregor's probably last ever since he took that dive. If Nico really does buy his crap beer, I'm sticking to drinking liquor that won't taste like horseshit. Oh yeah! I totally forgot that we all packed at least one bottle of hard liquor for the last day. What did I bring again? I'll have to check once I'm inside.

I brake right in front of the lodge only to see Nico standing by the door, looking smug. I sigh and take of my skis, put them in the stands outside of the lodge and walk over to him.

"I guess I won, didn't?" He grins at me. "That means I'll just have to pick the beer we're drinking today, won't I?"

"Yeah, yeah you won," I reply, rolling my eyes. "No need to be so smug about it."

Nico chuckles. "Well it wouldn't be fun otherwise. Besides, my taste in beer is impeccable!"

I scoff at the remark. "Impeccably terrible yeah. I mean, who on earth enjoys drinking _Oettinger_?"

"Don't diss the beer!" he says, giving me an accusing look. "It tastes good. It's cheap too!"

I glance over to my right and see Dennis standing there. He shakes his head, before pointing an accusing finger at me.

"Did you have to let this guy win?" What? Since when is this my fault?

"I most certainly didn't let this tone-deaf turd waffle win!" I exclaim, jabbing my thumb in the direction of Nico. "Besides, he cheated."

Nico looks at me with a surprised expression. "How on earth did I cheat?"

I think for a second, not coming up with a bullshit enough excuse. "You just did."

Just then, Michael and Lukas arrive, stopping right by us and quickly joining the circle. Lukas takes off his goggles and looks at me.

"Did you win?"

I look away sheepishly. "I uh… kinda lost to Nico."

Michael groans. "Seriously? We gotta drink piss tonight?"

"I don't understand your guys' problem with my taste in beer," he shrugs. "Besides, less is usually more, and 6 euros for a case of beer is a great price." He looks over to the slope and points at Gregor walking down the hill. He starts laughing.

"And plus, you won't have to buy the cases!" he adds

The rest of us turns our heads in unison and take and see Gregor walking down the slope with his skis in his hand, only one of them was broken off at the tip. We all burst out laughing.

"What a sad sight." Lukas manages to say while laughing.

I always knew Gregor took dives on slopes, but this is just too much. Good friends always laugh at each other's misfortune, and this was no exception. In German we call it 'Schadenfreude'. Don't get me wrong, we didn't laugh at him mean spiritedly, the situation was bound to happen at some point. We even started betting on when Gregor would break his first pair of skis.

Gregor joins the group and throws his skis in the middle of the circle we've formed. He sighs angrily before turning to Dennis, who has his hands on his knees from laughing. The rest of us managed to slightly calm down before he arrived.

"I don't know what the hell you're laughing at," he says, tone suggesting he's pretty pissed. "I could've seriously injured myself."

Dennis stands up straight again, wiping a tear from his eye. "Yeah, you could've. But you didn't. That's what makes this so funny."

"That has got to be the most embarrassing walk of shame that I've ever seen in my life" I add.

Gregor looks back and sighs. "Right, whatever," he turns to me. "I just hope you won, cause I sure as hell don't want to buy garbage today."

It always gets put back on me doesn't it? "Sorry to burst your bubble dude, but I lost."

Gregor throws his hands into the air theatrically. "Just perfect! This day just can't get any worse can it? Did Nico win?"

I give him a quick nod, making Gregor facepalm.

"In the end we'll be too drunk to care what kind of beer we drink," says Lukas. "At least that's what I'm planning on doing today."

"Who's the designated driver?" I ask. Dennis nods his head over to Michael.

"It's his car, he volunteered."

I narrow my eyes at Michael. Since when doesn't he drink? "I didn't expect you to volunteer Michael," I say, giving him a confused expression. "You usually love getting hammered."

Michael shrugs. "Ever since last time, I decided to put my drinking habits on hiatus."

Lukas chuckles. "I think it's for the best today, I don't want him to do what he did last time."

Nico narrows his eyes, looking at all of us before speaking. "What exactly did he do?"

Nico wasn't there during that night, and it was one of the weirdest nights of my life. Not to mention, I had the absolute worst hangover the next day. But that story is for another time.

Dennis speaks up. "I can tell you what he did. It wa-" he is suddenly stopped by a snowball hitting him square in the face.

"That story is for another time," Michael interrupts. "Besides, it's not that exciting anyway."

Dennis wipes the snow from his face and quickly flips of Michael. "Whatever you say, _Olivia Jones_."

Michael visibly turns red at the remark. We burst out laughing again, apart from Nico who's standing in the circle looking as clueless as ever.

"Let's just go inside." Michael says and storms past us. We quickly follow him, still snickering on our way to the door.

* * *

The rest of the night was quite eventful. After entering the lodge, we showered, dressed in some indoor clothes, put some fire in the fireplace and sat down in the living room. It was a pretty small lodge, with only 2 bedrooms, a living room, bathroom and a small kitchen. Nonetheless, it was enough for the 5 of us. Gregor and Nico went took the lift into the valley to go buy the beer and some food for tonight. The rest of us had brought the hard liquor from Germany, which totaled up to 4 bottles. 2 bottles of Jägermeister, a bottle of Vodka and a bottle of Whiskey. While my friends like to mix their drinks, I prefer to drink mine straight with the exception of Vodka, I can only stand the stuff if I mix it with orange juice.

The bulk of the night was spent in the living room, talking about anything that came to our minds while we were playing drinking games. I recommend 'ring of fire' to anyone looking for a new drinking game to play along with 'bus driver'. Those games are a blast to play, if you're looking to get drunk of course. The talking and drinking carried on long into the night until we were all pretty drunk. By that I mean we were absolutely shitface drunk, aside from Michael, who stuck to non-alcoholic drinks. At around the half-way point of the night, we actually started drinking the terrible beer that Nico chose. We were too drunk to care.

Things got interesting at around 3am. Everyone aside from myself and Nico were still awake. We told ourselves we were going to finish the 2nd bottle of Jägermeister before going to sleep, and it was taking a little while longer.

* * *

"Pour me another one!" I say rather slowly. I have to concentrate on what I say and speak slowly or only gibberish comes out. Nico doesn't quite understand that I can barely make out what he says.

"wonly fif yi get to have oune aswell!" he exclaims. Nico's always been a happy drunk, which is better than to have him smashing windows angrily in a drunken rage.

Nico picks up the bottle and fumbles with it, trying to unscrew it in one way or another. He is quietly cursing to himself. I grab the bottle from his hands and try to unscrew it as well. While my motor skills are exponentially better than is, they're still utter garbage at the moment. After some trying, I manage to get the bottle open and put the 2 shot glasses in front of me. It doesn't matter how drunk I am, I always have a steady hand when pouring alcohol.

I pass the shot glass to Nico, who instantly pours the brown liquid down his throat. I quickly follow suit and drink the shot. The bottle is officially empty and I knock it on the table three times to get Nico's attention. He looks over to me and I shake the bottle in front of him.

"empety alaryde?" he slurs. I nod and stand up from the sofa. The world begins to spin but I somehow manage to keep my balance. Nico isn't so lucky and just as he stands up, topples to the side and onto the ground. I quickly manage to help him up off the ground and guide him to his bed.

"Can you reead me ia bedtmiae story?"

The comment catches me completely off-guard and I try as best as I can not to start having a laughing fit. I focus 100% of my brain on speaking, so I don't sound like Nico when replying.

"Maybe next time dude, I gotta sleep myself."

He grunts and turns to the other side, mumbling something along the lines of 'thank's dad' and almost instantly falls asleep.

Right, now I just gotta get to the other room without keeling over or projectile vomiting all over the curtains. Shouldn't be that hard. Wrong. While I don't vomit all over the floor, the rest of the alcohol is finally settling into my bloodstream. Walking is becoming more of a chore with every passing minute. I have to get to bed quickly.

It's at this moment that the first wave of nausea hits me like a 12 ton lorry. I instantly run to the bathroom and lift the toilet seat up. I actually kind of trip my way to the bathroom. Just imagine the fellow that walks by John Cleese in the Monty Python sketch 'Ministry of Silly Walks'.

I spend the next 10 minutes on hanging over the porcelain pony. When I finally finish my business, I step out of the bathroom and look around.

_"__Good, I haven't woken anyone up with my stomach musical."_ I think to myself. Maybe I should get some fresh air, that's always a good Idea. A little walk never hurt anyone.

Walking towards the front door, I double check to see if I have the keys to get back into the house. I pat down on my right pant pocket, feeling something circular. That's gotta be the key ring.

I step outside and feel a cold blast of wind hit me right in the face. My jacket is on my bed, maybe I should get it.

On second thought, I won't need it, I'm only going to be gone for ten minutes tops anyway. And plus, being cold is going to take my mind off being drunk, right?

I start walking down the path that leads towards the main lodge. It's only a few minute walk so I should be back in no time. The nights on the mountain are extremely dark, save for the few lamps that illuminate the path.

I look up whilst walking. The view is breathtaking. There are thousands of stars in the sky. With no light pollution, it's filled to the brim with them.

_"__I wish I could be up there, exploring the stars." _I think to myself. It's been a thought that I've been having for a while now. I recently finished playing Mass Effect again and every time I do, it makes me feel as if I'm missing something up there. Large battles, beautiful planets, it all seems so close, yet so far away to me. Maybe I'll get lucky like Peter Quill one day and get abducted by aliens. That'd be rad.

Wait… did I just say rad? I'm not an 80's kid, I've never used that expression in my life. Snap out of it David! Next you'll be calling the babes on the beach bodacious. Damn I'm drunk.

I come up to a fork in the road. I forgot which way leads to the main lodge, but I'm going to take my chances with going left.

After 5 more minutes of walking, I suddenly find myself in the middle of a ski slope. It's not uncommon to have paths leading over parts of slopes, that way you wouldn't have to go around them.

I haphazardly decide to walk down the mountain, which is an absolute horrendous idea. It is pitch black and I have to ram my heels into the snow to not slide down. Although, sliding down on my ass is a quicker way of traveling. I quickly dismiss the Idea. I don't want to walk all the way back to the lodge with a soaked bottom.

Just then, a huge wave of dizziness hits me and I'm knocked off balance just as I want to take another step. I keel forward and begin rolling down the slope.

I frantically try to dig my hands into the snow to stop myself. It doesn't work. I gain speed, becoming faster and faster before the slope decides that it should turn left at a 90 degree angle. I begin to panic as I realize that I can't turn or stop myself at this speed. I begin to yell for help. Maybe someone will hear me.

I somehow manage to start sliding on my stomach at least 20 meters before the slope actually turns to the left.

As a last ditch effort, I ram my boots into the ground to try and slow myself down. It works but it's far too late to save me.

I am practically hurled off the side of the slope and into the tree line. I fly 2 or 3 more meters before my right leg stops my flight by hitting a tree. The snap of my leg is audible as I land in the deep snow covering the trunk of the tree.

I let out a hysterical scream that seems to go on forever. The pain is excruciating and my body is sent into complete overdrive. My heart is exploding out of my chest and a panic induced cold sweat starts to run down my forehead. I try to speak but can't, as shock locks my body up. I have trouble breathing as landing on my stomach has knocked all the wind out of me.

After about 15 minutes, my body decides to stop panicking. The sweating stops and my heart begins to beat a little less hard. The pain in my leg subsides as I am not moving it. I am propped up on my elbows in half a meter deep snow.

At this point in time I begin yelling for help. Someone's bound to find me here. The ski patrol is probably just around the corner, getting ready to pick me up and bring me to the closest hospital. They probably won't see me though.

I remember that I have my phone on me, but it's in the chest pocket of the sweater I have on.

Fuck, I'm going to have to flip myself on my back, aren't I? I plan this out in my head. Either I flip myself to the right from my prone position on my stomach. Which means that I'll have to put most of my weight on my right leg, which equals excruciation pain or I flip myself to the left, which means that my right leg will dangle loosely in the air before it'll slam into the snow. That also means excruciating pain.

Shit, this plan doesn't have any way of doing this without pain, does it?

I quickly dismiss flipping to the right, as the tree is obstructing my path there. My heart begins to pound again. I don't want to do this, but if I want to better my chance of being seen even by a little bit, I have to.

I find a piece of wood beside me. I wish I could take off my leather belt to do this, but a stick should suffice. I put the stick into my mouth and bite down as hard as I can on it. It doesn't break.

Right, time to do this.

I position my right arm as a jack to the side of me. I push and twist myself to the left slowly. My leg begins to lift off of the ground and as soon as it's hanging by itself just an inch off the ground, it explodes in pain. I immediately drop back onto my stomach. The pain is just too much. I begin to cry, not just because of the excruciating pain, but also because of the hopelessness of this situation. The tears flow freely as I pound my fist into the snow. I am going to die here. My life doesn't flash before my eyes as I begin to frantically scream for help again.

I manage to regain my mental stability for a few seconds and I gather all of my leftover courage to try flipping myself on my back again. I at least want to die comfortably. I get in position again, using my right arm as a jack. If I do this quickly, the pain won't be as prolonged. I bite down on the stick again, and quickly fling myself over to the left, rolling over onto my back.

My leg slams into the snow and I begin to scream again. I try to scream for help, but only a not understandable wail escapes my mouth. I feel myself beginning to throw up and I quickly turn my head to the right. The remnants of my Dinner shoot up through my esophagus and onto the snow beside me. I begin to sob again as I slowly begin to accept my fate. I got myself into this, so I might as well pay the price for it.

As all of this was taking place, I didn't even notice hypothermia setting in. It just sort of crept up on me. My attempts at calling for help become slurred and I start to sweat again. But this time, I'm sweating as if I am warm. Like, really really hot.

Minutes pass and the pain slowly dies down to a non-excruciating level. I've calmed down enough to stop wailing and I begin to start thinking straight again. Hell, I don't know what's waiting for me on the other side. Death has always been a mystery to me. Although I am an atheist, I've always wondered what would happen when we die. It won't be long now until I die.

I begin to grow more and more tired, but I keep trying to keep myself from going to sleep, as that would mark the end of my life.

Just then, I realize that I still have my phone on me. My hope is quickly reignited as I fumble trying to get it out of my chest pocket. I manage to get it out and I hold it over my head, pressing the home button.

No service.

I sigh deeply. This is it. No one is going to find me. I am officially going to die here. At least it'll be a painless death. Might as well make myself more comfortable while I slowly drift away. I unlock my phone and go to my music playlist.

There's one song that always manages to make me happy. I scroll down and select _'Plätscher' _by Paul Kalkbrenner. It's soothing yet upbeat.

I feel my eyes slowly close. My eyes are about to fall shut, but I manage to open them one last time. I wearily look around one last time, just as the songs soft bass drum kicks in.

I feel surprisingly calm right now. Maybe sleeping for a few minutes won't hurt. Maybe this is all just an incredibly lucid dream.

My eyes begin to slowly fall shut again. Everything is becoming blurry. The last thing I see is a large, looming shadow seemingly standing over me.

_"__Huh, weird. Maybe help finally did come for me"_ is my final thought before I close my eyes for the final time in my life.

* * *

I gasp as my eyes shoot open. I'm on my stomach, lying on some sort of metal floo- wait… I'm not dead? I though I died! It probably was just one extremely lucid dream. I heard too much Jägermeister does that to you, or was that Absinthe? It doesn't matter now though, I'm alive!

But where the hell am I? Why am I on a cold metal floor? Oh right, I was on my way to the main ski lodge, they have metal floors there, for whatever reason. I probably just passed out there.

Ugh, my head is fucking killing me. Maybe I did have a little bit too much to drink. Come to think of it, I wonder how Nico is feeling. If I remember correctly, he wanted me to read him a bedtime story. I smile at the thought, opening my eyes again. The light blinds me and my head flares up in pain again.

Right, I forgot how sensitive I was to lighting when I'm hung over. I slowly sit up, eyes still closed. It must be afternoon, because it sure sounds busy in the lodge. I slowly open my eyes again, fighting through my headache to try and quickly adjust to the lighting. I stand up slowly as well.

Whoah, I'm still a little shaky on my feet, I should take this slow. Getting your circulation going properly after a night of drinking is pretty damn important.

I begin to walk around a little and it's at this moment that I notice that something isn't right. This doesn't look at all like the lodge. Last time I checked, the lodges walls weren't a dull gray color, and they sure as hell weren't made of metal. And why am I in an alleyway? There are no alleyways on mountains. I turn around and walk for the exit of the alley. I take a sharp right turn and stop dead in my tracks. My eyes grow to the size of satellite dishes.

Why are there Turians here? And Krogans? Is that a Batarian? What. The. Fuck. I clearly don't remember taking any LSD last night. I'm sure as hell not high. This feels pretty real to me. I start to slowly walk onto the bustling road. There's barely any humans here, but a metric fuckton of Batarians and Turians. I don't think I'm on the Citadel. Where am I then?

A Krogan walks past me and glares at me. He says something while shaking his head.

Why didn't I understand that? What the hell is going on here? This entire situation is making me uneasy. A wave of nausea hits me again and my knees slightly buckle. Oh Jesus, now's not the time to be losing my bowels again.

Two Turians walk by me. They are deep in conversation and don't seem to notice me, as the one on the left walks squarely into me. I fall on my back and groan. The Turian gives me a funny look and says something to me. I can't understand a thing he said. I just stare at him and after about 10 uncomfortable seconds, he just shakes his head and continues walking.

Now I remember, everyone in the Mass Effect universe has a translator. I don't know whether it's implanted or not, I just know that I need to get one. My stomach rumbles again and I can start to taste the bile in my mouth. I scramble to my feet, only to be hit by another wave of dizziness. I stumble over to some sort of storefront. I just need some place to lean on until the dizziness goes away.

I lean with both hands on the counter and take a deep breath. This has got to be a dream. Maybe I did take LSD last night and I can't remember. The only time I've seen this happen is in Self Insert fan fictions. And last time I checked, fiction wasn't real.

I begin to feel the bile coming up again, but this time I can't stop it. I release my bowels onto the counter just as the Shopkeeper, who just happens to be a Batarian, walks out of what looks like to be a storeroom.

He immediately begins yelling what seem like obscenities at me while accusingly pointing at me. I'd explain myself, but I can't understand a damn thing he's yelling at me. Maybe he's going to kill me, which would probably mean that I'll wake up somewhere again. At least I hope. The Batarian storms off and sticks his head into the storeroom quickly to yell something. Hopefully he's just telling his janitor to clean up his mess.

My prediction is wrong. Two other Batarians emerge from the storeroom and walk up to me. Oh shit, they don't look friendly. I try to walk away but another wave of dizziness stops me dead in my tracks. One of them walk up to me and punches me straight in the stomach. The wind is instantly knocked out of me and I crumple to the floor like a ragdoll. I am quickly picked up again by the other and dragged into the alleyway I originally came from.

I get thrown to the floor and the two of them stand in front of me. They're probably expecting me to get up. I at least try to do that before I'm kicked right in the ribs. I slump onto the ground again and begin to wheeze for air. I don't get a moments rest though, as I'm picked up off the floor again and held in place by one of the aliens. He says something that sounds mocking to the other and they both laugh. The one on front of me gets in my face and says something. Man, I really need a translator. I decide to take a risk and rear back my head and slam it into the Batarians… nose?

He stumbles back and it seems to me like he's cursing under his breath. I think I just fucked up.

I'm right, I did fuck up. I'm met with a knee to the face and a terrible crunching sound. I yelp out in pain as blood instantly starts flowing out of my nostrils. Some of the blood gets into my mouth and I can taste the metallic tinge it ha.

Yep, he just broke my nose. He doesn't stop there though and suddenly his fist collides with the left side of my face. Multiple times. I scream out in pain he hits my nose again, and I subsequently have my face slammed into the alleyway wall by the other Batarian. I collide and tumble to the floor. I'm kicked in the ribs again and both of the Batarians stand over me. The one to the right of me spits in my face.

Yep, I'm definitely not dreaming. This is as real as it gets. I am in the Mass Effect universe and by the looks of it, I didn't get a terribly good start to my adventure. By the looks of it, there's a pretty high chance It's going to end right here as well.

The last thing I see one of the Batarians raising his boot and slamming it into my face.

After that, I am engulfed by blackness.

* * *

_And that was the first chapter of Reduced Mass! I sincerely hope you enjoyed it and any feedback is greatly appreciated. To clear some things up:_

_- Oettinger is the worst beer that has ever been brewed in this Country. It's about 50 cents a bottle and it tastes like nothing but watered down beer. That's the reason everyone was so upset about Nico winning _

_- Olivia Jones is a famous German crossdresser. She owns a popular nightclub on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg and is also a TV personality. The story about Michael did actually happen, as did the ski trip (Apart from the last part of me getting some fresh air) and I will tell the story later in this fic._

_Apart from that, I'm going to try updating this story every week, with the exception of next week because I happen to be on vacation then :S. So I'm gonna compensate by posting the next Chapter this week._

_And before you ask, of course I'm not going to die this chapter. That would defeat the purpose of an entire Series!_

_Again, any feedback and criticism is greatly appreciated, as it helps me improve the story!_

_Until next time!_

_David._


	2. Criminal Activity

_Hey everyone! Back again with another chapter of Reduced Mass. The first chapter was quite long at 7k words and while I'm no trying to make every chapter as big as this one, I plan on averaging every chapter at around 4k – 5k words. This chapter is coming a little earlier as __**I won't be here next week due to me being on vacation**__. So I'm giving you 2 this week and then I'll set my plan of one update about every 5-6 days into motion._

_Last chapter I managed to already screw up big time, getting my ass kicked by Batarians. A great welcome into the ME universe isn't it? Well now we continue our long adventure. Once again, I'm happy about any kind of feedback you give me (as long as it is constructive!), as that is what makes me better as a writer. Review are greatly appreciated as well! I always want to hear from readers. Whether it's just a quick hello or telling me what you particularly liked about a certain chapter (or what you didn't like), I'd love to hear from you!_

_Now, without further ado, let us get to the story!_

* * *

**ACT I**

* * *

I slowly awaken and feel the soft embrace of a blanket around me. There's a mattress under me so it seems like I'm in a bed. Maybe this was just a dream. I open my eyes and find myself in a very clean, very white room. I hear the distinct beeping of a heart rate monitor to the left of me. I am definitely in a hospital. I look over to the heart rate monitor. Hmm, it's holographic, weird. Wait… holographic? We didn't have that in 2014. I instinctively touch my nose and hiss at the pain that shoots through my face.

I sigh deeply. This still is real. I'm having a damn difficult time believing it though. I mean, what on earth are the odds? Huh, maybe 'what on earth' isn't such a fitting expression anymore. Maybe I should start saying 'what in the universe?' Damn, that sounds pretty stupid. I'll have to come up with something better. I need to get my priorities straight first though. I've read enough SI's to know that I need to find Shepard. That much is obvious. First though, I gotta find out where I am exactly and what year it is. I think the furthest back someone was sent in a Self-Insert was 2 years. At least that's the furthest that I've read about.

Secondly, I need to get my hands on a translator, otherwise I'll just have a repeat of… yesterday I think. I touch my nose lightly again. I can't believe I got my ass kicked within 10 minutes of arriving here. And it wasn't just a light ass kicking either. I think they were honestly ready to kill me. A slight chill runs down my spine. The thought of me dying a second time is making me uneasy. I always thought I was a tough sumbitch' back on earth. I did get into a few fights but none ended this badly for either me or the guy I was fighting. To be honest, I wouldn't even consider them actual fights. I'd class it more as 'drunken flailing'.

But what happened between me and the Batarians, that showed me how easily I can get my face destroyed here. I wasn't even strong enough to properly fight back. I'm useless to Shepard unless I get some training one way or the other. Maybe I can do it when I join the Normandy's crew. What am I saying, he or she will never take me on if I have absolutely no training. I might be in shape and I know how to use a handgun fairly well but I highly doubt that'll be enough.

Most importantly, who the hell found me in that alley? Someone must've found me, otherwise I'd probably be dead again. I'll have to buy whoever dragged me in here a drink… fuck. I find myself growing progressively angrier. I have no money, I have no translator, my family is gone forever and I don't even have a fucking omni-tool!

Just then, my right hand is engulfed in an orange glow. I raise one of my eyebrows and lift my arm up. Well, that certainly looks like an omni-tool. I stare at it intently for a few seconds. This thing has a pretty basic menu. Apps, a music player, Extranet, I'd be surprised if Apple didn't create this thing. But now I'm gonna have to check if this isn't just a hallucination. I lift my left hand and gently touch the extranet icon. I get a quiet confirmation ping and land on what seems to be the homepage.

I snort at the image in front of me. After all this time, Google is still around? Well I'll be damned. How the hell did I turn this thing on? And how the hell do I turn this thing off? Just as I want my omni-tool to turn off, it does. Hmm, maybe its mind activated? I think about wanting to open my omni-tool again and sure enough, the warm orange glow greets me once again. I gotta say, that's pretty badass. I open and close it a few more times to get the hang of it a little more when a thought hits me. Maybe I have a translator now.

I slowly sit upright in the hospital bed. I look down to my right and see that there's a small holographic interface with buttons on it. It's just like a normal hospital bed. There's arrow keys that can move me into an upright position, a button to dim the lights if I want to sleep and a red button that calls the nurse.

I decide to press the nurse button and I'm greeted by another confirmation ping. Now we wait I guess.

About 2 minutes pass and I suddenly see the doors whoosh open in front of me. A human woman in a typical nurse's outfit walk in and gives me a warm smile. She looks in her mid-30's, but most of her black hair is beginning to turn grey. Large bags are visible under her eyes and just looks absolutely exhausted. Working in a hospital must take a toll on people.

"You're awake I see," she begins. "How are you feeling?"

I return the smile, albeit a little weakly. "As good as I can feel after getting my face squashed in by 2 Batarians."

She raises her eyebrows before continuing to speak. "I'm surprised that you're in such a good mood. You were almost beaten to death 2 days ago."

I widen my eyes, giving the nurse a genuinely surprised expression.

"I… I was out for 2 days?"

She gives me a small nod. "You were brought here with barely any time left to save you," she sighs and looks at me. "If it wasn't for the Turian who found you, you wouldn't be here right now."

My confusion just keeps getting bigger and bigger. "A Turian saved me?"

She nods again. "Yes, a merchant by the name of Tarvus. He saw the two Batarians come out of the alley and noticed that one of them had blood on his clothes. He went into the alley to investigate and saw you lying there in a heap."

I let that sink in for a few seconds. "Damn." Is all I manage to say.

The nurse chuckles. "That about sums it up pretty well," she starts to walk back towards the door. "You're a lucky man. I'll go tell the doctor you're awake. She'll come to check up on you shortly." With that she walks out and the door slide shut behind her.

I'm left in my bed to contemplate on the things I've just heard. If Tarvus did actually save me, I'm going to try and find him once I'm dismissed from this place. Maybe he can help me out a little more.

Man, this just gets more and more bizarre. The whole reality of this situation still hasn't quite sunken in yet, for the sole fact that I couldn't have conjured up this experience in my wildest dreams. Something like this happening should be more than improbable, it should be impossible. But here I am, right smack in the middle of it all.

Just then, the doors whoosh open again and an Asari in doctor's attire walks in. She is a light shade of purple and eyes of the same color. Damn, Asari are pretty beautiful. She takes a seat by the bed and checks her omni-tool. This gives me just enough time to stop gawping at her. Good, I don't think she's noticed.

She closes her omni-tool and looks at me. "All your vital signs seem to be in order," she takes a look at my nose. "Your broken nose seems to be healing fine for the moment at least. But I'd like to ask you a few questions, to see if your brain activity is in working order." She pauses and looks at me.

I understood her! I have a translator!

"If that's fine with you I mean. You just woke up a few minutes ago, so I can understand if you want to do this at a later time."

I shake my head. "Don't worry about it doctor…" I pause waiting for her to say her name.

"T'neria" she quickly says. "I am Doctor T'neria, chief medical officer here."

I nod. "Well, like I said Doctor T'neria, I don't mind the questions," I sigh and touch my nose. "To be honest, I have a few questions as well if that's alright with you."

She nods in understanding. "Alright, go ahead. I take it the multiple hits on your head left you in quite a daze."

"That's understating it." I chuckle. "First of all doc, where am I?"

"The Aerinus General Hospital." She replies. Hmm, I've never heard of that before.

"Alright." I slowly say, furrowing my brows and Doctor T'neria instantly picks up on my confusion.

"I can see that you're going to ask the same questions as me," she smiles. "Do you mind if I take over from here?"

"No, not at all." I reply.

"Alright, so first of all, do you know where you are apart from the Aerinus General Hospital?"

I shake my head.

"Do you know what Planet you're on?"

I shake my head again.

"Do you know what year it is?"

I frown, shaking my head a third time. Doctor T'neria sighs and opens up her omni-tool.

"I guess the damage to you brain was more severe than I thought." She frowns.

"Alright let me ask you some simpler questions."

There's no brain damage. I genuinely don't know where the hell I am. But if I tell her that and what happened before I arrived here, she'd stick me into a psych ward.

"What's your name?" she asks, quickly glancing back onto her omni-tool.

"David Jonas."

She nods, going straight to the next question.

"How old are you?"

"19." I say. I sure hope she doesn't take me as stupid.

"What's your place of birth?"

I should be honest with this answer. "Hanover, Germany." She gives me a funny look. "It's on earth, doc."

"What color are your eyes?"

The question takes me off guard. I don't know why she would ask that.

"Green. Doc, what does this have to do with my situation?"

She looks up from her omni-tool. "Simple, I'm assessing the extent of your brain damage. If you can't remember small details about yourself, then I would have to transfer you to the rehabilitation ward. And that's off planet."

I nod in understanding. She really thinks I do have brain damage.

"Just two more questions and then I'll fill you in on the details you don't know," she says. "What color is your hair?"

"Blonde."

"Alright. Last question: How tall are you?"

"6 foot 1."

Doctor T'neria nods and begins typing on her omni-tool again. She turns to me. "Alright let me fill you in on your knowledge gaps then."

"You are in the city of Aerinus on the planet Chalkhos."

The planet what? I've never heard of that planet before.

"The planet is in the Mil System, which is part of the Terminus Systems."

Fuck. This is bad, like really, really bad. If I'm in the Terminus Systems, it means I'm millions of miles away from The Citadel and millions of miles away from joining Shepard's crew. I begin to fidget nervously. This situation is going south quickly. Doctor T'neria picks up on it. She gives me a confused look.

"David, is everything alright?"

Fuck, she's noticed. I have to come up with an excuse.

"It's just uh… I… it's kind of a shock to me that… I'm in the Terminus System, that's all." I stammer. Christ that was terrible.

Doctor T'neria just stares at me. "Well, where else would you be?"

"I… I'm sorry, I'm still in a daze." I lie.

Doctor T'neria raises an eyebrow at me. "Whatever you say," she shrugs. "Now, was there anything else I need to tell you?"

"What year is it?" I ask.

"Oh right, sorry," she opens up her omni-tool and seemingly looks at the date.

"In human time, today is the 13th of November," she pauses and glances at me. "The year is 2174."

The sentence hits me like a brick. It's 2174. I'm 9 years too early. Oh. My. God. A cold chill runs down my spine and I clench my teeth, trying to stop a desperate whimper that is threatening to escape my lips. Most of the color drains from my face and I suddenly feel very dizzy. I fall back onto the bed.

Doctor T'neria eyes widen and she jumps up. "David, is everything alright?"

I let out a sharp breath and look at her. "I'm fine," I lie. "I just got sideswiped by a migraine, that's all." I slowly get my breathing under control and look at Doctor T'neria. She doesn't believe me for a second. After a minute of awkward silence, she lets out a long sigh.

"Well alright," she says, walking towards the door. "I'll be back in about an hour, I just gotta find your records and see if everything checks out." And with that, she's gone. If I don't leave, I'm going to get busted right here, right now. Last time I checked, people that popped into the universe 2 days ago don't have records. And I'm not sitting here and hoping for the best. Once she finds out I don't have any records, she's gonna start asking questions. And once I tell her the truth, I'm going to be put into a looney bin, maybe even Purgatory.

I contemplate on what I'm going to do next for the next 5 minutes. I need to get out of here, so I slowly rise to a seated position again and move myself so I'm sitting on the side of the bed.

I can't walk out of here in a hospital gown, I need to find my clothes. I look over to the other side of the room and see a locker. That must be where my clothes are. I ease myself off the bed slowly. I can stand fine, now let's try walking.

I slowly move my right leg forward, placing it in front of me. I guess I can walk fine. I slowly make my way over to the locker and open it. Ah, everything seems to be here. My brown Timberland boots, my pair of washed out blue jeans, black shirt and dark green hoodie. Only problem, where are my underpants? I cram round the locker and while I find my socks and leather belt, my underwear is nowhere to be found. Guess I gotta go commando then. I pull on my pants first and once they're on, I loop my belt through the holes and make sure I have a snug fit around my waist.

It's at this moment that I glance in the direction of a small metal box attached to the wall beside the locker. It's got the universal sign for hazardous material on it. I walk over and open it. I instantly rear back and begin to cough.

Christ. That was my underwear in there. I must've shat myself when getting the shit kicked out of me. Heh, I guess I literally got the shit kicked out of me. I instantly clamp my nose shut with my finger and slam the box shut. Now's not the time for silly jokes though. I pull my shirt over my head and quickly throw on my hoodie and zip it shut. It'll probably be easier for me to sneak out if I have no shoes on.

My mind drifts back to the underwear and I turn red. The doctor must've removed them. God, that's fucking embarrassing. I don't think I can look her in the eyes again. I mean, that smelled absolutely horrendous. I hope I didn't traumatize Doctor T'neria too much with that. She probably gets that all the time… Right?

I shake my head, trying to get the thoughts out of my head. I walk towards the door, with my boots in hand. The door whooshes open and I peek my head out of the doorway, looking to my left and then my right. Coast looks clear for now. I step into the hallway and try to get my bearings. I need to find the exit. I look around quickly seeing a sign on the wall pointing to the left. It says reception. Logically, that means the exit is there as well.

I begin to make my way down the hall. This place is pretty damn clean if I say so myself. I'd expect a hospitals in the Terminus Systems to be a lot more dirty and dingy, like Omega. But I guess not all planets in the Terminus Systems are dark, dingy and rundown. A door to my right whooshes open and my heart skips a beat. I slowly turn my head, only to see a Turian patient slowly making his way out of his room. He's leaning on some kind of walking aid. He notices me looking at him.

"What the hell are you looking at, Human?" he says. He puts emphasis on the word Human, as if just uttering that word is a chore to him.

"I… I wasn't looking," I stammer. "You just startled me."

The Turian growls, flexing his mandibles.

"Startled?" he begins, flanging voice taking on an angry tone. "Do you find Turians that ugly? Do you despise us that much?"

I furrow my brows. What the hell is he talking about? "Look pal-" I begin to say before I'm interrupted.

"Bah, don't call me pal. I hate your kind too much to ever consider them friends." He spits.

Right, I remember now. First contact wasn't that long ago. About… 17 years I think? I begin to speak again.

"What exactly have I done to wrong you?" I ask. I wonder where all the hospital staff is. This place seems pretty deserted to me.

The Turian flexes his mandibles again. I think that means he's angry. "Your kind exists, that's what you've done wrong to me. I lost half my family in the war and then the Council just integrates you into the intergalactic community. The fucking idiots" He growls, slamming one of his talons on to his walking aid. "If I had it my way, I would've exterminated every colony and killed every single one of you."

Although I can kind of understand where he's coming from, this guy is a complete ass. I might as well have some fun with this though. I look at the Turian and shrug.

"Good thing you're not part of the council then. I don't think they elect racist cripples anyway."

The Turian slams his walker into the ground and points a talon at me accusingly. "The only reason I'm like this is because two bastard humans broke my legs. You humans are all the same. If I could, I'd snap your neck right now.

Whoa, now that was uncalled for. I kind of feel for the guy though. Losing half your family in the war must be tough. But I'm not going to sympathize with this twit. I shake my head and sigh.

"Look, buddy," I say and emphasize the word buddy. "I can't do anything about your family, so don't blame me for something that's happened 17 years ago, because I had nothing to do with it. But I see you're too much of a tone-deaf dimwit to understand that and instead you blame the entire human race for this. Last time I checked my history books, the Turians fired first."

The Turian's stopped talking, but he's glaring daggers into me. I'm surprised I don't start to nervously fidget around. I'm usually one that avoids arguments, especially with people that could absolutely pummel me. I begin to walk away. He begins to speak up again but I instantly cut him off.

"And you know what? I usually sympathize with the person if they're in this kind of situation, but in your case," I pause for a second before turning to him again. "I'm sad they didn't break more. I'd have paid good money to see that" I flash him a quick smile and turn around.

I can hear the Turian curse behind me but I willfully ignore it. I can't be bothered arguing with this guy anymore. I guess racism hasn't been cured in the future. But I already knew that from the games. Arguing with racists gets you nowhere anyway. It's like playing tug of war with a boulder. They just don't sway from their asinine opinions and world views. I don't even feel bad for insulting him, the two humans that did that to him probably had a good enough reason to do it.

I'm honestly surprised that no doctor or nurse showed up in the hall. As big as the hospital looks to me, I'd have expected it to be bustling with people. I walk for another 2 minutes and then round the corner. I stop dead in my tracks. Further down the hall, I see Doctor T'neria talking with what seems to be a security guard. I move to the wall and peek around it again. She's got her back turned to me, which is good but she's pointing in the general direction of where my room is. I guess she found out that I don't have any records. This just got a lot harder. It's at this moment that I see Doctor T'neria turn around and walk in my direction with the security guard.

I instantly run back down the hall the way I came. Good thing I still haven't put my boots on or I definitely would've made too much noise. I take another right turn and am met with a dead end. I notice a Vending machine on the right side of the wall. It's big enough for me to hide behind, and I do. A few seconds later, Doctor T'neria and the security guard walk by, but the Doctor stops right at the intersection and makes a call.

"This is Doctor T'neria speaking, I have a man here with no records who could be of use to you." She pauses for a moment before speaking again.

"I'll have him sedated and brought to the spaceport for pick up."

With that, she hangs up the call and hurries towards my room again. My heart is beating out of my chest and I'm beginning to sweat heavily. Why is Doctor T'neria willing to sedate me and bring me to the spaceport? Who the hell is she doing this for? I peek out from behind the vending machine. The coast is clear so I begin to jog towards the exit again. I look left and right at the path intersection and I keep running afterwards. I make it to the reception and am greeted by a blue asari sitting behind a desk. She looks up from her terminal and smiles at me.

"Can I help you?" she asks.

I shake my head and return the smile.

"No, but thanks for asking," I gesture towards the door. "I was just dismissed and am on the way out."

The receptionist nods. "Well in that case, have a nice da-" The receptionist gets a call. "Hello?" she stops to listen to the other line. After a few seconds, her eyes shoot over to me and narrow.

"He's right here."

Fuck. I bolt for the door just as I hear the alarm go off. Since when do hospitals have alarms? It's only a few more meters before a human security guard steps in front of me. He's pretty a pretty small guy. Good thing I played Football. I take the guard completely by surprise when I duck down and ram my right shoulder to a point below his center of mass (It's his groin). I can hear him physically groan out in pain as I tackle him out the door with me. We both collide into the wall that's right across from the hospitals entrance. I use him to absorb the shock and I seem to knock all the wind out of him. We crash to the ground. I scramble to me feet and look at the guard. He's slumped against the wall, passed out. I pick up my boots and look back quickly, only to be met by the image of an angry security guard running towards me. I dash for to the right, down the path. I don't bother to look back. After about 200 meters I find myself in a large in what seems to be the central hub of wherever the hell I am. There's people everywhere so I decide to dash in a random direction. I don't even think that the security guard followed me this far. But just to make sure, I keep my zigzag pattern through the crowd going for a few more minutes.

I somehow manage to find my way back to the marketplace I first landed in. I look around for any Turian merchants. I need to find Tarvus, maybe he'll be able to help me. I quickly sit on a bench and put on my boots, lacing them up snugly.

I stand back up and from what I can see, there's about 3 Turian merchants here. I walk over to the first one and the Turian widens his mandibles in a smile.

"What can I do for you today?" he asks. I find Turian voices absolutely badass.

"I'm looking for Tarvus" I reply. "Do you know where I can find him?"

The Turian raises a brow plate. "Why do you want to know where Tarvus is?" he retorts.

"He saved my life two days ago and I need to speak with him."

The Turians eyes widen in recognition for a second and his mandibles tighten quickly in surprise. He leans over the counter. "Come with me." He says. I guess I just found Tarvus.

* * *

I find myself in the storeroom of Tarvus' shop. "Take a seat." I look around and see a table neatly tucked into the corner of the storeroom through a shelf. Shelves line the room and are filled with boxes, weapons and other things I can't quite identify. The table is in its own room really. Two shelves separate the small space from the rest of the storeroom. There's a small holographic notice board on the wall and a mini fridge in the corner of the two actual walls.

I take a seat across from Tarvus. "You want something to drink?" he asks. I'm about to shake my head when I notice just how dry my throat really is.

"Water, if you have any." I reply. The Turian opens the mini fridge and takes out a bottle of cold water. He throws it to me and I catch it out of the air with one hand. 50 style points to me! I screw open the water bottle and take a long swig. Damn, I really needed that.

Tarvus sits back up and looks at me. "So, why did you want to find me?" he begins. "I thought you'd still be in the hospital."

I screw the cap back onto the water bottle. "There were some… uh… complications."

Tarvus looks at me with a confused expression. "Complications?"

I might as well be halfway honest here. "I overheard the Doctor. She'd just called someone and was talking about me. She said she'd have me sedated and brought to the spaceport for pick up." I look over to Tarvus to see if he's following what I'm saying.

"After that, I put on my stuff and bolted. I sure as hell didn't want to be kidnapped."

After a few seconds, Tarvus nods in understanding. "Typical of Doctor T'neria."

I furrow my brows. What does he mean typical? "Typical?" I simply ask.

Tarvus nods again and leans forward a bit. I guess he's open to conversation.

"Chalkhos is a criminal world," he starts. "All the major companies and facilities are managed by crime groups, and Aerinus General Hospital is no exception." He sighs. "It doesn't help that it's the only hospital still running here."

Tarvus looks to me to see if I'm following. He then starts speaking again. "Aerinus General is controlled by a powerful slaver ring."

My eyes widen in shock. "You mean that Doctor T'neria was going to sell me into slavery?"

Tarvus nods. "Once admitted to the hospital, she assesses the potential worth a patient has. If it's under a certain level, the patients get treated and then released. If they are worth something though, they get sedated, brought to the spaceport and shipped off to the main slave processing hub."

I take a few seconds to wrap my head around this. A small surge of anger passes through me.

"Well why the hell did you bring me there then?" I say, but I keep my voice calm.

Tarvus shrugs. "It was either that or dying." He replies firmly, mandibles pressed against his face. "I didn't expect you to be so high on the price list to be honest."

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers. "I guess I should thank you then."

Tarvus mandibles widen in a small smile.

I look up at Tarvus. "Now all I gotta do is get off this rock."

"Do you need help with that?" he asks. Hell yeah I do need help!

"First things first, I gotta get my hands on some credits first, or else I'm going nowhere."

We sit in silence for about a minute before he speaks up again. "I think I can help you with your problem," he taps his talons on the table while speaking. "How much experience do you have with weapons?"

"Weapons? Why?"

Where the hell is he going with this?

"I have a job offer for you, but I need to know a things first."

I shrug. This is the best news that I have heard since coming here.

"Only weapon I've used extensively is a pistol."

Tarvus nods. "What about self-defense techniques?"

I shake my head. "Aside from the occasional bar fight, none."

He nods again. "How heavy are you?"

What? Why would he want to know that?

"185lbs. Why do you need to know that?"

Tarvus mandibles widen in a smile. "Well, I would try and find someone else, but I'm getting desperate here," he begins. "You got the job."

Something doesn't seem right here. "What's the catch? And what exactly am I going to be doing?"

Tarvus stands up before speaking. "I'm going to be honest with you here. The business on Chalkhos is brutal. If you want to become a successful merchant, you can't be afraid to get your hands at least a little dirty."

I raise an eyebrow. "What's my role going to be in this?"

Tarvus chuckles. "Easy, you're going to be a 'security guard'." He air quotes security guard.

I'm not liking where this is going, but I'm gonna play along for now. "What does this 'security guard do?" I make sure to air quote security guard as well, getting a laugh out of Tarvus.

"You keep my business running smoothly." He says in a tone that is a little too dark for my taste.

"And that includes?" I ask.

"You'll find out soon enough. I'm going to assign you to work with one of my other enforcers, Torben."

Oh so he's calling it enforcer now? This is getting shady.

"So what's it going to be...?" Well I'll be damned, he doesn't even know my name.

"David." I finish for him.

"So what's it going to be David? Do you accept?"

I sit there in thought for a bit. If I accept, I'm going to be classed a criminal. If I decline, I might not be a criminal, but I'll be broke. And plus, this could get me some training for when I join Shepard. If I join Shepard that is. A lot can happen in 9 years. Fuck it.

"Before I accept I gotta ask, what's the catch?" I ask.

"You work with me for a minimum amount of six months. After those 6 months, you'll have enough to leave this rock and no one will force you to stay. No contract to be bound by. If you're injured, one of the other enforcers used to be a medic in the Alliance, so you don't have to visit Aerinus General again."

I still don't like this, but what choice do I have? 9 years is a long time and I can't just spend it sitting on my ass.

"One more question," I interject. "What about further training?"

Tarvus thinks for a second. "Torben will give you weapons and close combat training. The three of you sleep over there." He gestures to a sizeable room with two bunk beds in it. So there's four 'security guards', alright.

I think for a second before I reach out a hand for Tarvus to shake. "You got yourself a deal, Tarvus."

He smiles again and grabs my hand in a firm handshake. "Welcome aboard David."

What did I just get myself into?

My name is David and I am now officially a criminal.

* * *

_A/N: That was the first actual Chapter of the story. As you can see, David isn't on the most peaceful worlds in the Galaxy, so he needs to adapt to survive. I wanted to make this different from other SI's by giving myself more than enough time to evolve in the universe, and I think 9 years is more than enough._

_I'm also going to try and not become a full Paragon character, as I find moral powerhouses a little dull to write. Besides, there really is no definitive good or evil in the world. Only sith deal in absolutes. Characters that are grey on the moral chart are the most fun to write personally. There's so many more possibilities! _

_Once again, make sure to review and leave feedback!_

_Until next update,_

_David._


	3. New Beginnings

_Hey everyone! I am officially back from vacation (since the 23__rd__) and I've instantly started writing on Reduced Mass again. The wait was killing me to be honest, as not being able to update the story from France was at times pretty excruciating. Nonetheless I enjoyed my week there and have a few more crazy stories to tell in the future (I went with the same people that I went with during the ski trip.). As a souvenir I bought myself a nice bottle of Johnnie Walker. I found a bottle of Platinum Label for a reasonable price and I instantly decided to bring it home with me._

_I bought myself a notebook there and decided to keep all my thoughts and notes on the SI on paper, as I won't lose any information there if my computer ever decides to crap-out. I always sat down an hour a day before going to sleep and started writing down any ideas that came to me and one of those ideas I've already set into motion._

_I've decided to split every story I write in the Reduced Mass series into 3 different acts. Each act will focus on a new main part of David's story and will be around 15 to 20 chapters long (Excluding prologue and Epilogue). An act will end when that specific part of David's life has gone by and a new chapter in his new life begins. I will mark the chapters where the act begins and the chapters where they end._

_Finally, what I've noticed in my writing is my extensive use of short sentences. Reading it over it feels a little choppy to me. I'm not going to rewrite the first 2 chapters but starting now, I will try to give my writing more of a flow. Furthermore, I will start writing out numbers in words (Thank you for the feedback FtDLulz!)._

_This will be more of an interaction chapter, as David meets the team in this chapter._

_Now without further ado, let's get back into the action!_

* * *

It's been two hours since I took the job Tarvus gave me and I'm sitting in what seems to be the break/meeting room of the store. It's around eight AM in human standard time, which means that the other three 'enforcers' should being showing up any time now. I still don't like the fact that I accepted, but I know it's really the best chance that I can get to gain some experience. Nine years is a long time to bridge between now and finally joining Shepard's crew, if I even make it that far. I sigh. If I even make it that far is a pretty accurate description. I mean, I still have zero combat experience other than street- and bar fights, I have the bare minimum of weapons training and concerning my shape, although I'm in shape I'll still probably have a damn tough time lugging pounds of gear around.

If this was the year 2183 and I was to ask Shepard to join her/his crew, she'd probably laugh in my face, if Shepard is renegade of course. If Shepard was paragon, she'd probably give me a pitiful pat on the back and tell me to find something better to do with my time in a very, very polite tone. I find that that is even worse than being told to fuck off right in my face. I'm a very honest guy and if people beat around the bush with formalities instead of telling someone straight up, I get angry. Hell, me being brutally honest has gotten me into fights a few times. I understand if people don't want to hurt other people's feelings by being nice, but the universe isn't a nice place. No one here in the Terminus Systems is going to nicely tell you to get out of their face, their way of saying that is probably a bullet or punch in the face.

God, I hate waiting. The first day on the job has always been nerve wracking to me for some reason. As badass as I think I am, I don't like large changes all that much. I'm most comfortable when everything around me is familiar, but come to think of it, nothing here is familiar to me. I'm in the fucking future for peats sake! I shouldn't be nervous because I'm going to be working a new job, that feeling should be in the past. I think it's just the fact that I'm going to most likely working a job that would be considered illegal anywhere outside the Terminus Systems. It's criminal activity, but seeing as real law doesn't exist in the Terminus, I shouldn't be worried that I'm going to be breaking any law. Only the strongest really survive the Terminus Systems, and if I manage to get through these 6 months, that's at least a small step to survive what's to come. I think what's bugging me the most right now is the waiting. I hate waiting to a degree that can be considered unhealthy. That uncertainty of what's to come combined with just sitting around doing jack shit, that's what really grinds my gears.

But on the bright side, these past two hours have given me time to learn more things about my omni-tool. It's basically just a computer and tablet combined into one, which I was already being done in 2014. Only difference, it's holographic and built into my body, which is pretty sick. I managed to download some basic apps, one of those being a flashlight app. That'll come in handy eventually. I also started browsing the extranet for some information on the planet I'm on. According to _Extrapedia_, Chalkhos is a garden world. Its climate is drastically hotter than on earth which means that the growing of psychoactive drugs, mainly _'Conflexicene'_ short form _'Flex' is possible_. Huh, I've never heard of Flex before, maybe all the drugs of my time are obsolete now. Chalkhos is also rife with gangs, slaver and drug rings and illegal genetic engineering and illegal tech that would be illegal in council space.

This is pretty damn interesting, especially the illegal tech. Anything that can give me an edge in a fight is a welcome sight to me. On a world like Chalkhos, fighting dirty is probably common, I won't see people bowing before a bar fight and giving mercy to the people that stopped fighting. I don't mind fighting dirty, seeing as I'll need to adapt to survive this place. What is going to be hard though is overcoming my fear of really hurting someone. I got in a lot of fights before arriving here, but I was either too drunk to care or I was provoked in some way or another, and I don't see myself doing my job drunk and I sure as hell know that I won't be provoked by the people I'll probably be harassing doing this.

Damn, I could really go for a cigarette right now. It really does calm me down when I'm like this. Maybe it's the smoke, or maybe the fact that I have something to do while waiting that would originally calm me down. Believe me, I've tried to quit, and I have for a time, but it always catches up to me at some point. Maybe the brands I know have survived this long. I usually buy JPS, but right now I'd smoke any brand. Now that I think about it, maybe there are some alien brands that I could try. I know smoking still exists here, thanks to the Illusive Man. I don't think I've ever not seen him with a cigarette between his fingers, I guess sitting in that chair all day can get pretty boring.

At this moment, the door to of the sleeping room whooshes open and a man walks out. He looks in his mid-thirties. He's got a buzz cut and a beard and has muscles bulging out of his shirt. He kinda looks like Russell Crowe in the film 'Noah' apart from the grey hair. His is brown. He glances down onto his omni-tool and seemingly reads a message before looking to me. Tarvus did say he'd message the others in advance so they don't wonder who's sitting in the meeting room.

"So… you're the new guy?" he asks me as he looks me up and down.

I stand up from the chair and face him before speaking.

"Yeah, I am," I begin. "My name's David." I reach out a hand for him to shake. He doesn't shake it and walks by me.

"Save the formalities, kid," He says while opening the mini fridge and taking out a bottle of water. "As long as you don't fuck up big time and do your job, you're good in my books." He looks up at me. I just nod. "My name's Garrett, I'm the medic."

"Alright." I simply say. I sit back down at the table diagonally across from Garrett. After a few minutes of strained silence, he speaks up again.

"I gotta ask kid, why'd you sign up for a job like this? This isn't the safest of jobs in the world, you could've easily landed a job as a shop assistant or something."

I look up at Garrett. "I need the cash and experience. I could've become a shop assistant but in a place like this, knowing how to defend yourself is better knowledge than knowing how to sweep floors."

Garrett chuckles. "Well, you're right with that statement," he takes a large swig from the water bottle. "But why don't you have any experience with defending yourself, you're in the fuckin' Terminus Systems. I'm surprised you haven't gotten your ass beaten yet."

My eyes widen a little bit. Little does he know I did get my ass beaten. "I haven't been here for long," I state. Alright, it's time for me to lie again. "My father was a small time weapons smuggler, wanted in council space. He dragged me onto Chalkhos and a few weeks later, he was killed."

"And now you're stranded here?" Garrett asks. I nod again. "Landing here is a bad idea, your father must've been mentally challenged." Alright, I expected this kind of response. Sympathy is probably a word that doesn't exist in the dictionaries of 80% of the population of Chalkhos. Time to play along with this.

I chuckle. "Believe me, he was."

The door opens again and another man walks out. He's pretty small and looks in his early twenties. He's got messy black hair and a five o'clock shadow. He looks over to the table and raises his left eyebrow.

"This the FNG, Garrett?" he asks while walking over to the table. Good thing I know what FNG means, because I think asking them would result in them making fun of me. Garrett nods.

"That he is Benji-boy. As green as a greenhorn can get." Garrett says. So I'm guessing this guy is named Benjamin.

"He doesn't look that weak to me, maybe he'll perform better than the last guy we hired."

Garrett laughs at the comment. "Let's hope, we both know what happens with people that piss off Torben and don't listen to him."

I can feel myself growing more nervous. Tarvus said I'd train with Torben and by the looks of it, he hates new guys. I look between Benjamin and Garrett. Benjamin has taken a seat across from me.

"Who's Torben?" I begin, looking back and forth between the both of them. "And furthermore, what the hell happened to the last guy?"

Both of them begin to laugh. The knot in my stomach is growing by the minute.

"You'll find out soon enough, trust me." Benjamin says while laughing.

"Torben loves telling that story." Garrett chimes in.

Both of them slowly begin to stop laughing. Garrett looks back to me.

"Listen, kid. As long as you do what Torben tells you to do and don't fuck up while doing it, you'll be fine." He says, but it doesn't sound reassuring. He means it dead seriously. I'll have to do what he says if I want to survive this place. My mind begins to race. What the hell does he do to the people who don't do what he says? Does he kill them, beat them or fire them to leave them to their own devices in the streets on this place?

Just then, the door opens and Torben steps out. He's a beast of a man, standing at around six feet and three inches high. He's got at least as much muscle as Garrett, if not more and his face is set into a constant scowl. He looks around forty years old and has a large scar going from his left temple across to his right cheek bone. He also has a buzz cut and a beard, which makes him look that much more terrifying. His hair is grey and he's got some wrinkles on his face.

Torben looks over to the table and sees me. He begins to scowl even more.

"Who the fuck are you?" he says in an angry tone. Great, he already doesn't like me and the best part of that is that I haven't even given him any reason to be angry at me. And I know I'll get him angry at some point in time, with me having no real experience and all.

I get up from the table and walk over to him. I'm surprised I'm not shaking in my boots right now, because if anyone of that size was angry at me back in 2014, I would've probably ran away. Maybe because this entire situation with me being in a different universe is so absurd, my emotions are still taking some time to properly set in. Hell, this all still feels somewhat like a dream to me, but I know this is real life.

"My names David, I'm the new guy." I say, trying my best to not have my voice break or tremble. Fuck, this guy is terrifying.

"I can see that," he states angrily. "Now shut the fuck up and stand still."

I do as he says and he begins to walk around me. It looks like he's analyzing me, probably to check if I'm worth training or not.

"Hmm, weak." He grunts. "Not enough muscle for someone of your size. What've you been doing all this time in your life, nothing useful I presume?" he asks.

It takes every fiber of my being to not get angry at Torben. He's provoking me but I know that any attempt to punch him will result in my death. I clench my teeth and start to try and calm my breathing, which has gotten a little sharper.

"Tell me David, what makes you think you're going to survive this place?"

I raise an eyebrow. I honestly have no idea how to answer the question. I begin to quickly think of a way to scrounge any sorry excuse for an answer but just as I'm about to speak up, Torben interrupts me.

"What am I saying, you're not going to survive to the end of the week."

Okay, what is this guy's problem? I know Garrett and Benjamin warned me, but like with that racist Turian, this is ridiculous. I know I'm in the Terminus Systems, but that doesn't give 90% of people the excuse to be an asshole. Ugh, what am I saying, of course it does. I'm in the fucking Terminus Systems which means no law, no rules to play by and no red tape as Garrus put it in one of the games. I'm going to have to bathe this out, it's for the best anyway. I can quit this anytime, but that would mean death for me and a premature end to my time in this universe. I promised Tarvus I'd do the job and by the looks of it, I don't think he likes people that break promises. If I break the promise, I'll be the one to get broken, literally. I unclench my teeth and look Torben in the eyes.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Torben." I say in a monotone voice. I think that might've been a bad idea. Torben growls and reels back his right fist and swings it forward towards my face. With his size, that motion was pretty predictable and I duck as the freight train of a fist sails over where my face used to be. Yep, that was definitely a bad idea. I retaliate by swinging my right fist in a hook towards his face and he leans back and dodges it as well. What I don't see coming though is Torben's left hand which grabs me by my collar and lifts me into the air. Damn this guy is pretty fucking strong, seeing as most people couldn't lift 185 pounds with their non-dominant hand, assuming Torben is right handed. But even then, most people couldn't lift my weight with their dominant hand.

Torben brings me right up to his face. He's giving me a death stare.

"You do that one more time, and I will use your skull as a soup bowl." He growls. Damn, he just inadvertently quoted Dwight Schrute, albeit a little wrong, and if I wasn't shitting a fuckton of bricks right now, I'd be laughing. The Office is by far one of my favorite shows.

Torben spits on the ground. "Do I make myself clear?" he says, his anger dying down to its normal level of 'I fucking hate everything' mode. I weakly nod my head and Torben lets go of me.

"You're lucky I'm in such a good mood today, rookie." He spits. "Otherwise you wouldn't be alive right now."

I nod my head again. "Noted." I say. I half expect Torben to throttle me again but this time, no angry growl or collar grabbing happens.

Torben sits at the table and looks back at me. "You've got one positive thing going for you."

I look at him and raise an eyebrow.

"You've got balls. Swinging a punch at me isn't the best of ideas, a deadly one mostly. You even trying it gives me enough incentive to try and train your pathetic ass."

I say nothing as I know it'll come out wrong and I'll get my lights turned off in an instant.

"That doesn't mean we're friends. I'd still rather kill you than train you, but Tarvus needs the man power."

He takes a sip from his cup of coffee. When the hell did that appear?

"Don't waste my time with this, if you fuck up, I get angry and if I get angry, I'll probably use you as a punching back to relieve stress."

I nod my head and make my way back into the meeting room.

I sit back down at the table with the three of them. Garrett and Benjamin are engaged in a conversation whilst Torben sits in silence reading what seems to be a newspaper on his omni-tool. The 'Chalkhos Crier' I read as the heading of the extranet site. I'm assuming its breakfast time as everyone has something to eat in front of them. Now that I think about it, last time I had something real to eat was back in my Time, albeit Nico's cooking wasn't the very best in the world.

I open my omni-tool and begin to search through the extranet. I begin looking for old and familiar websites to see if they're still around. Facebook hasn't been around since 2026, YouTube has been replaced by a Turian counterpart that's apparently a lot simpler to run called 'ExtraVid'. Pretty cheesy name if you ask me. I continue sifting through the extranet when Torben suddenly begins speaking up as he leaves the table.

"Meet me outside the store in two hours, rookie." He says without looking back to me. "We start training then." And with that, he's gone back into the sleeping room.

I look back to Garrett and Benjamin who are looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"A word of advice kid, don't ever try and punch Torben again." Garrett says while getting up from the table. "He's serious when he says that he'll kill you, it's happened before."

I gulp and look back at Benjamin, who nods at the statement. Damn, they're not kidding with this, Torben did actually kill a rookie like me before. Alright, now I'm scared of the guy. I mean, even the toughest looking people usually have some sort of soft center but this guy is probably made of pure Titanium. The ice queen Miranda Lawson can step back, she's nothing in emotionlessness compared to Torben. Huh, I guess that's a bad comparison, as I know that Miranda does show emotions. I'll have to find a proper comparison later.

"Tell me a little about yourself."

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by Benjamin.

"I know why you're here with us, but why are you on Chalkhos or the Terminus Systems for that matter? You look like a good guy if you ask me, so why this place?"

I chuckle. He's right, I don't belong here at all. Time to lie again.

"I didn't really have a choice," I begin. "My father was smuggler, pretty bad one if you ask me. Within two years of his new career, C-sec and Alliance investigators were onto him and he was forced to leave council and alliance space."

Benjamin takes in the information for a few seconds. "So I'm guessing he came here then." He says.

I simply nod. "Yeah, and he forced me to go along, said he'd cut all my funding and put part of the blame on me. Now I'm kind of a fish out of water in this place, and I have no money to leave."

"Alright, but that doesn't really explain why you're here with us. You could've easily gotten a job that wasn't that dangerous."

"Yeah, but having some fighting experience in this place doesn't really hurt, seeing as I did get my ass kicked here before."

Benjamin chuckles. "You weren't the guy that vomited on Ukathan's booth, were you?"

I turn red at the remark, which causes Benjamin to start laughing.

"I knew you looked familiar!" he exclaims. "I was only a few meters away from the booth when I heard the commotion. I walked over to see that some drunk guy who vomited on the counter was being dragged into the alleyway."

I furrow my brows. Why the hell didn't he help me?

"If you saw me get dragged into the alley, why didn't you jump in and help?" I ask.

Benjamin shrugs. "Hell, they had two guys beating you down in there while two others were standing guard, I would've died trying to get to you." He takes the last sip of coffee from his cup and looks back to me. "If you'd have done that at Tarvus's booth, you wouldn't be alive."

I guess I can kind of understand him, seeing as I probably wouldn't have saved a drunk man that I don't know being beaten half to death in an alleyway guarded by two armed Batarians.

"What happened to your father?" Benjamin asks.

"Was killed within two days of coming here." I say. "Got in a fight with the wrong guy. If you ask me, he had it coming."

"Understandable." Benjamin says. "So you left the hospital and went to find Tarvus?"

I don't want to tell the entire hospital story again, so I nod. "Yeah, basically. I found Tarvus, he offered me the job and I accepted."

Benjamin seems to believe my backstory. He leans forward a little. "Where'd you live before Chalkhos?"

"Germany." I state, which causes Benjamin to raise an eyebrow.

"Really? Torben's from Germany as well, you might get on his good side sooner than expected."

"That's… interesting," I say. I didn't expect him to be German at all. Sure the name is common in the country but in a galaxy with trillions of beings and around only about… 82 million German citizens, meeting another one is pure luck. Although, I should check how many people are registered as German in the universe, seeing as the population was growing when I was around and over one hundred years later, I'd expect it to be more than 82 million.

"Did he ever say where he was from?" I continue. I at least have one conversation point to go off of when speaking with him now. Maybe he will loosen up a bit, although I highly doubt it.

"He did, but I can't pronounce it for the life of me, something along the lines of Hoyers…"

"Hoyerswerda?" I finish for him?

"Yeah, that's the place." He says. Damn, last time I checked Hoyerswerda was in pretty bad shape, although I'm guessing it has bettered itself over the decades.

"Torben always goes off on tangents when he's had too much to drink, about how he barely sees any German people around the universe." Benjamin says. "Maybe he'll go a little easier on you."

I laugh at the comment. "Do you really think that'll happen?"

Benjamin starts to laugh as well. "I highly doubt it."

I have to say, Benjamin is a pretty nice guy. He's around my age so we can probably relate better on that part. Garrett seems like a cool guy to but I think he's gotta warm up to me before I can start any good conversations with him. They'll probably make my stay here a little easier. I check my time on my omni-tool. I still have around and hour and forty minutes till I start my training.

Benjamin stops laughing and speaks up again. "How that I know the basic information about you, is there anything you want to know about me?" he says in a friendly tone.

"Mostly what you asked me," I state. "Where you're from, why you came here, all that stuff."

And so Benjamin starts telling me a little bit more about himself. Over the next half hour, I find out that Benji, yes, he said I should call him Benji instead of Benjamin. He's twenty two years old and was born in the colony of Tiptree and his parents were merchants. He always travelled around with them and one day about 3 years ago, they landed on Chalkhos to deliver some goods to Tarvus. On the way back, they were mugged by a group of Batarians and both parents were killed. Benji managed to kill one of them with a knife before having to run. He ran back to Tarvus, who sent Torben after the muggers. After the ordeal, Tarvus offered him a job and he took it. I guess that's why he can relate to me pretty well. Working with Tarvus, he met Garrett and Torben and became friends with them. Well as good a friend as you can become to Mr. Titanium at least.

* * *

"Look David, I've seen dozens of newbies come and go, and I have no incentive to think any different of you," Benji says as he gets up off the table. "But I believe you're full of surprises and I'd be happy if you made it past the first week, and I haven't said that to any rookie before."

I smile at Benji. "Don't worry, my stomach feeling tells me I'll be here to stay." I say. Benji returns the smile.

"Let's hope you're right." He says, and with that, he leaves the room. I'm left alone in the meeting room again with another hour to waste until I start training with Torben. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but it's the first real step to me getting enough experience to join Shepard further down the line. I know I'm probably going to have to do some pretty dangerous stuff here and in these nine years, but it's really the only way I'll be a credible member of the crew and not be completely useless.

I sigh and look back onto my omni-tool. As cool as it sounds, the novelty of it wears off pretty quickly. It's going to become a part of me now and until I get some combat applications for it, it'll be just like the phone I had back in 2014. I use it to check the time, surf the net, do online banking although my account is empty at the moment and use it to bridge the gap between two events, like I am doing now. I'll have to figure out how to do online banking on this thing, like transferring credits and all that. I open up the built in app store and go to the _'Buisness'_ of the shop. This this is arranged in a way that isn't too complex. I can find everything with the click of a button or a quick search. Ah there's the banking app, and it's got a cheesy name as well. _'GalactiBank'_. It sounds like something out of an 80's sci-fi movie. I download it and after a few seconds, I get a ping that signals that the download is finished.

I click on the icon and am met with a login screen. Account name, account details and a password, this looks simple enough. I checked in the hospital and someone seemingly set up an account for me with the OABoT, the _'Official Alliance Bank of Terra'_. Only problem, I've got no cash, but that'll change pretty quickly. I type in my details and soon after I am met with another interface. It's simple in design as well, I don't think I'll have any problems with online banking here.

My omni-tool suddenly pings. It seems as though I have just received a message, and it's from someone marked as unknown. Weird.

_David,_

_This'll help you get started with your new life. I know you're probably wondering why you're here, and I'll explain in the future._

_GA_

GA? Who the fuck is GA and why does he know that I'm not from here? My mind begins to race again. If someone knows of my situation, this could become significantly harder. Somebody finding out I don't have any records is already a problem. Example: the hospital. Me being able to predict future events, albeit only from 2183 to 2186 can and will paint a large target on my forehead. The nervous knot in my stomach is back. Someone's brought me into this universe for a reason, and that person is probably GA. I don't know what the hell it means, but I'll call him Gary Anderson for now, that's a plausible way signing your messages if you have that name.

Thinking about this now is only going to make me go mad. My GalactiBank app pops up with a message.

_Dear user!_

_User 'GA' has transferred 3000 credits to your account!_

_Thank you for using GalactiBank!_

Well I'll be damned, he really did help me out. I am a somewhat rich man! I can finally buy myself some clothes now, some cigarettes as well. Weapons will be too expensive and I probably won't need to buy them seeing as I going to be given gear. With that, I tuck the worries of GA into the back of my mind and walk over to the mini fridge to look for something to eat. Time to bridge the rest of the time till my training starts.

* * *

I walk out of the front of the store and see Torben standing to the left of the shop leaning against a wall.

"You're late, rookie." He states. I check my omni-tool and see that it's thirty four seconds past ten AM. I sigh and walk over to him.

"Sorry. I lost track of time." I reply, causing Torben to roll his eyes at me.

"Whatever, let's get to the range. The sooner I'm done with you today, the better." Torben says, but his voice is a little less condescending and more annoyed than anything else.

We begin to walk down the street where the market is located. Now that I get an actual chance to look at it, this place looks pretty damn amazing. The street we're at is basically a giant marketplace. There's the ground floor which we're walking down right now and another level on the sides of the street beside us. The entire street is covered by a large curved glass roof which bathes it in a warm, natural light. It looks like a shopping mall like this. Shuttles and sky cars whoosh over us on the outside and the sound of a person of a PA system announcing shuttle land and departure times rings through the building.

Once we're off the main market street, we turn left and onto a smaller street. It's filled with bars and nightclubs and the loud bass music is making me want to run into the club and dance… although I probably dance worse than Shepard. At the end of the street, we turn into a small alleyway. There's a door that leads into a large hangar. After Torben types in what seems to be the password, we enter. The lights are off and I can't see a damn thing. Just then, the lights turn on and I'm greeted by what seems to be a large training ground. The right wall is lined with shooting ranges, there's a gym tucked neatly into the corner on the left and where I'm standing now, there are weapons lockers, tables and shelves filled with equipment.

"Welcome to the best kept secret on Chalkhos." Torben states a little proudly.

My eyes widen at the sight. This is pretty fucking amazing. I look around for what seems like ages before I turn back to Torben, who's leaning against the wall again.

"What do you mean, secret?" I ask, eyes still wandering around the large room.

"What do you think it means, you idiot?" Torben says. "It means no one knows of this place except the people that work for Tarvus." He walks over to a console and presses a button, which causes the targets on the shooting ranges to pop up and move around.

"Welcome to your new home, rookie," Torben says as he walks from the console to one of the weapons lockers and throws me a pistol. I catch it out of the air again with one hand and get a decent look at it. Looks like a Striker to me, which I confirm by looking at the back of the gun and seeing _'Elanus Risk Control Services'_ written in the back with the logo.

"And that… is your new best friend."

Alright, it's time to lie again. "Striker variant, Elanus Risk Control Services, my uncle had this pistol." I say. I do have experience with pistols, but the ones I used are about one hundred and sixty years old.

"Well, did you ever use it?" Torben asks. I nod in affirmation. "Well, let me see you use it, we'll start simple and work our way up."

I walk over to the range and take up a standard firing position. Feet shoulder width apart, left foot about a step behind my right foot, knees bent slightly. Torben walks around me and checks my positioning.

"Well I'll be damned, at least you got into the proper stance somewhat accurately. You aren't all that useless." He says in a mocking tone.

I sigh and raise my eyebrows at him. "What do you mean, somewhat?" I ask him.

"Your stance is sloppy," he begins. "Your knees are bent too much, feet are too far apart and you aren't leaning forward slightly. If I were to look at you now, I'd assume you were taking a shit."

I laugh at the comment and try to fix up my stance. Torben walks over to me and adjusts my posture himself as well. He tells me to fire my pistol at the targets that are standing still and I hit most of the in the lethal spots after one or two shots. This is when things go bad. Next are the moving targets, and it's safe to say that I only hit one out of fifteen shots every time I tried. Torben was growing more and more impatient with every failed attempt until he finally decided to tell me how to properly do it. That didn't help all that much either and it's at that moment that Torben smacks me on the back of my head.

"Godammit!" he exclaims. "It can't be all that hard hitting a few fucking targets, can it?" He rips the pistol out of my hand and initiates the training sequence again. He begins to shot the pistol and hits every single target square in the chest. Every. Fucking. Target. He then tosses the pistol over to me again.

"Now try it again, and every time you miss, you do fifteen pushups." He says. This is going to be a long day, I just know it.

The training sequence begins again and the targets begin to move once more. I squeeze the trigger aiming a little ahead of the first one and manage to hit it in the chest. Score! The other two pop up and begin to simulate a speed of logging. I fire again and the shot goes wide. I curse under my breath and fire again, the shot going wide again. I fire a third time and the second target goes down and with my sixth shot, the other goes down as well. I've kinda gotten the hang of this now that I'm being extorted into doing physical activity. I'm in shape, but doing exercises when I don't want to do them is hell for me.

The last three targets emerge, all three of them in a sprinting speed. I begin to fire my weapon, not hitting anything. After about fifteen shots, I manage to hit one target in the leg, but not before my gun overheats. I curse loudly as I hear Torben laughing from behind me.

"Look what you've down now, you've made the gun overheat!" Torben takes the gun from my hand and sets it aside. "You know the rules, whelp. You've missed 32 shots, which means 32 pushups."

I get down on the ground.

"Oh! And did I mention that making your gun overheat is an extra 25 pushups?"

I groan loudly and begin doing my pushups. Torben begins speaking again.

"After you have the moving targets down, we're moving on to you moving shooting at stationary targets, then to you moving shooting at moving targets!" he claps his hands together.

"Doesn't that sound like fun?"

I groan again as I push myself up off the ground again. "Like a blast." I grunt

I told you this was going to be a long day.

* * *

I walk through the door of the shop. I'm bathed in sweat and my arms and legs are on fire. It didn't stop at the pushups, he put in squats and pull-ups as punishment as well. I know full well this is a great way of getting me into shape and fighting condition, but I absolutely hate it already. Like you probably already know, the moving around while shooting didn't work out quite that well, and I spent most of my time doing exercises instead of shooting. And the longer it went on, I began to miss more. I did get better as time went on but around the last two hours, fatigue began to set in and I was missing almost everything.

Torben was having a great time, ridiculing me and motivating me in his own, twisted way by mocking me. I have a feeling these six months are going to be very, very long. Torben made me jog back to the shop as the last punishment of the day. After I arrived at the door of the shop, I was done for the day, and in my state I went to a booth next door and bought some clothes. Another two shirts, three pairs of underwear and socks, a pair of sweatpants and a black hoodie. I needed those clothes, otherwise I'd start stinking foul after these training days. After I bought the clothes, I went over to a shop down the street and bought myself a carton of cigarettes and a zippo lighter. I usually smoke a box in about a week, so this carton should last me about ten.

Now I'm fucking exhausted. I use my last strength to hop under the shower. I let the hot water rush over my body as I just stand there. Six to seven hours a day of training. Every day until Torben deems me worthy of actually being able to handle myself here. Great. Just fucking great.

I step out of the shower after having properly cleaned myself properly. I change into my sweatpants and a simple white T-shirt and walk through the store room towards my bed in the sleeping room. I check the time again and see that after all of this, it's around eight PM.

Just as I walk by the meeting room, I hear Garrett's voice through the shelf dividing the room from the rest of the store room.

"How was your first day, Greenhorn?" he asks in an amused tone.

I chuckle mirthlessly. "Pretty tiring, but fun nonetheless."

Garrett smiles at me. "I know how you feel, I went through the same thing a few years ago. I'll tell you about it in the future if you'd like."

I nod. "I'd love that, but first I need to get some sleep."

Garrett laughs again. "Torben wanted me to tell you that training starts at seven AM from now on," he says in an amused tone. "You're going to meet at the range from now on as well."

I groan loudly and face palm, much to the amusement of Garrett. "Thanks Garrett." I say as I walk into the sleeping room.

"Anytime!" I hear him shout as the door closes behind me.

I drop myself onto the bed that was assigned to me. I drop onto the bed

God damn this is comfortable. I throw the blanket over myself and lie down on my right side facing the wall. Tomorrow's going to be hell again, and the day after that, and the days and weeks after that. I sigh as I feel my eyes falling shut.

Well shit, I better make the best of it while I can.

And with that, my eyes fall shut and I drift off into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

_And that was chapter 2 of ACT I! I apologize if it was a little boring to read but every SI has interaction chapters that introduce characters and all that jazz. Next chapter we're going to finally get some action!__What exactly happens? Find out next time! I tried to make my story flow a little more with long sentences. If that has worked, just let me know!_

_Again, any feedback and criticism is greatly appreciated and encouraged! Until next time!_

_David._


	4. Doubts

_Hey everyone! I'm back once again, albeit a little early, but I gotta say, I can't get enough of writing at the moment. I publish a chapter, and right after, I feel like I need to instantly start writing on the next one. I usually actually finish writing a chapter and finally upload it around 3 AM, and after that I can't keep writing without falling asleep at my desk. But as soon as I wake up, I'm extremely motivated to start writing again! Although I said I'd update every 4 to 5 days, I'll try and get a chapter out every second day for the next 2 weeks. Why 2 weeks you ask? I'm still on vacation! And before actual life begins again, I have more than enough time to get a lot more chapters out._

_It's safe to say that I'm pretty addicted to writing again, a feeling that I haven't felt for a few months now. Uploading new chapters of this story and reading your reviews makes me incredibly happy and that's what keeps me going. I know I'm not going to please everyone with this story, but to the people that are following this story already, I thank you for joining me on this long journey! David's going to have some ups and downs and you'll get to experience all of them. _

_Any ideas for the story are by all means welcomed with open arms. If you have a suggestion, just PM me!_

_In this chapter, we're finally going to get some action where David isn't the one being beaten, chased or killed. Also, it's time for some new gear, and being in the Terminus Systems, the new gear isn't going to be that legal to own anywhere else._

_Now, without further ado, Enjoy!_

* * *

It's been two weeks since I've started my training with Torben. Well, I wouldn't really call it training, it's more of a sadistic torture technique that Torben is making me go through every single damn day. I don't think I've ever done this much physical activity ever in a time span of two weeks, with pushups, pull-ups, squats, deadlifts and bench-presses being a normal part of my day now. I actually collapsed from exhaustion a few times, only to be mocked by Torben and after the collapse he pushes me twice as hard. After a few minute break of course.

It's not the fact that I do it every day that makes me hate it, back in 2014 I was physically active as well. I went to the gym every second day and went running in the days in-between, but doing physical activity every day for six to seven hours a day is just wrong to me. For the first few days, I couldn't lift my arms even a few inches without my muscles telling me to 'abort mission'. That didn't stop Torben though. He picked up on my pain and pushed me harder than ever before, but I didn't complain, as that would've made it even worse. I just manned up and took it as best I could, even if it did mean excruciating pain. Maybe he's making me get used to pain. Although, I think there's a difference between pain from exercising and being shot.

On the bright side of all of this though is the fact that I've become worlds better with my new best friend, the pistol. I gotta say 'ERCS', or Elanus Risk Control Services know how to make a damn good gun, because I'm in love with mine. My Striker packs a hell of a punch, and yet it's got minimal recoil and rarely overheats. Over the past two weeks all I've been training with weapon wise is the pistol, as Torben's training regimen consists of two week training blocks, which means that I train on something new every two weeks while in my free time, I refine my skills on the things I've already learned. Next up is CQC and hand to hand combat, which I'm already dreading knowing that my sparring partner will be Mr. Titanium himself. But I guess he's the best guy to train with, cause if I manage to beat him at some point, I'm sure I'll be able to beat anyone.

These two weeks have crawled by at a snails pace. After training with Torben, I'd usually head to a human run Chinese restaurant down the street to get myself a bite to eat. That place makes the best damn noodles that I've ever eaten in my entire life, and with me going there daily ordering buckets of food, the owner, Mr. Ming has taken an instant liking to me. He's already declared me his favorite customer, probably because every time I got there for dinner, I order at least fifty credits worth of food, and in a cheap place like this, that means a lot of food. I'd say the amount I was eating is a fuckton, but can you blame me? After a small breakfast and at least twenty five liters of water I got and train for seven fucking hours straight without. During that time, I'm forbidden to eat, so I'm forced to catch up on lunch at dinner time. And that means, you guessed it, a huge dinner at Mr. Ming's place!

The place is quite quaint. It's tucked into a corner of the market street and has only two booths in the corner of the shop. There's a bar with six stool at the far left end of the shop and the kitchen is right behind the counter. Everything's prepared freshly and the smell emanating from there is heavenly. Mr. Ming always has time to talk to his customers and its nice having a friendly face to talk to in this place. His family has been running this place for 15 years now. Mr. Ming himself isn't hard to understand at all. Before coming to Chalkhos, he used to live in Chicago and had a Chinese restaurant there as well that he ran for a long time.

But, like most people here, he's got a darker past. Ming got into bad business with the wrong people, and after he failed to pay protection money, his shop was burned down, killing his wife that was still inside. He exacted revenge rather brutally on the man who burned down his shop and was forced to leave alliance space. He came here and built himself another living. I guess I don't want to get on Ming's bad side, but that applies to almost everyone on this planet.

I enter the restaurant fittingly called the _'Great Wall of China'_ and am instantly greeted by Mr. Ming.

"Ah! If it isn't my favorite customer!" he exclaims happily as I take a seat at the counter.

"What'll it be this time?" he asks while rubbing his hands together. I'm usually the only guy eating here at this time. After finishing training and showering, it's around five PM and the store is at its fullest come dinner time around eight. I'm asleep by that time. Lunch is what Ming calls 'downtime'.

"The usual, but make it two beers this time." I say to him. Ming happily nods in confirmation and yells something into the kitchen in Chinese before walking to the fridge and taking out two ice cold beers. He opens both of the bottles of _'Tsingtao' _and hands one to me. Tsingtao was around in 2014 and I've only had it a few times before, but it's a nice beer to drink. We clink our beers together and Mr. Ming takes a seat on a bar stool situated behind the corner.

"So, what's my favorite customer been up to?" he asks.

I shrug and take a sip of my beer. "Not much has changed. Torben's still taking pleasure in torturing me, but I know it's for the best."

Mr. Ming nods in understanding. "Trust me, in a place like this, it is for the best." He takes another sip of his beer before wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "Learning the old fashioned way on Chalkhos will get you nowhere, you'd just end up dead in a trash compactor."

I chuckle. "You're probably right about that," I say. "I'm actually pretty thankful I'm getting any training at all to be honest. I didn't expect the arguably most terrifying person of Chalkhos to take me under his wing, albeit it being a wing made on barbed wire."

Mr. Ming laughs. "See? Now you're getting into the spirit of Chalkhos!" he exclaims. "I knew you'd come around eventually!"

He's right, I would come around eventually. The first week of our conversations consisted of me complaining about my training and sore muscles. At that point, he gave some sort of herbal rub which he said would eliminate my soreness. And sure enough, it did. As soon as I asked him if I could have more he set me up with a weekly supply that I would pick up every week. After the first week, I decided to accept my fate with Torben and we began to converse about other subjects. I began asking him about anything interesting he's heard being said around town and sure enough, some pretty juicy stories came up, one of them concerning me.

That story concerning me is about an unknown man severely injuring a security guard after escaping from Aerinus General. A two hundred credit bounty has been put onto me as a reward to return me to Doctor T'neria. After hearing that story, he told me that he knew that it was me but he wasn't going to tell anyone, as any friend of Tarvus was a friend of his. He told me that as long as I didn't wander too far from the market street, no one would care that I was running about and that a two hundred credit bounty would only attract desperate thugs that I could easily shoot.

Shooting someone still is something that I'll have to overcome my fear of. I still can't see myself ending someone's life, although I know for sure that'll it'll happen in the near future, so I guess I'll have time to worry about it some other time.

My food arrives on multiple plates. A large platter of noodles and rice, a bowl of steamed vegetables and a large plate filled with all sorts of meat. I immediately sink into my food. This is fucking delicious and for the amount of what I'm ordering, the price is pretty good for the amount of money I have.

"So… heard anything interesting lately?" I ask Mr. Ming with a half full mouth of food. I ask him this question every time I see him and usually, aside from rumors, nothing interesting pops up.

Mr. Ming smiles and nods. "I have something that'll be of great interest to you." He says happily. This could be good.

He leans over the counter and begins speaking in a hushed voice.

"One of the merchants that works for Tarvus, a Salarian named Jermok recently came in here with two Batarians and sat down in a booth," he begins, looking over to the booth neatly tucked into the corner. "Curiosity got the best of me and I bugged the food tray that I was going bring the food to them on."

Damn, Mr. Ming is a sneaky son of a gun, isn't he?

"I listened to their conversation after I had picked up the food tray and what I heard surprised me."

"Enlighten me." I say. I'm interested in what the conversation is about, could be some good Intel.

Mr. Ming opens up his omni-tool and sends me the sound file. I open it and press play.

* * *

_"__I want out," a Salarian voice says in a nervous tone. "I can't work for that damn Turian anymore!"_

_"__Well tell us about your problem first, and we might be able to help you," a Batarian voice says in a somewhat amused way._

_"__It's that damn Turian!" Jermok exclaims. "He's been breathing down my neck for weeks now! Ever since I messed up that Flex shipment he's been withholding some of my wage."_

_"__And you want Ukathan to hire you?" another Batarian asks. "Why would he do that? You messed up an expensive shipment and if you were to do that with him, he'd have you killed."_

_"__I know I know" says Jermok in a hurried tone. "But I have something he wants, and I'll give it to him for protection."_

_"__And what would that be?" asks one of the Batarians impatiently._

_"__Information." Jermok states_

_The tone of voice of one of the Batarians seems to shift to that of an interested one._

_"__Do tell us more." He says._

_"__Alright, alright, but you have to promise to protect me from Tarvus and his goons."_

_One of the Batarians chuckles. "That depends on how good the Intel is."_

_"__I can give you locations of the docks where his goods are delivered, shipping times and passwords into his database." Jermok says hurriedly._

_One of the Batarians seemingly claps his hands together. "Well Jermok, I think you've got yourself a deal," he says. "Meet us in front of the 'Cosmic Quake' nightclub in two weeks, there you'll give us the Intel and we'll relocate you to a safe location."_

_"__Wh... What? Why not now!" exclaims desperately. "I can give it to you now!"_

_"__It doesn't work that way," replies one of the Batarians. "We need to run this by Ukathan to see if he accepts the deal, and that takes time. For the next two weeks, gather as much more Intel as you can and then report to us in two weeks."_

_"__Al… Alright." Comes the weak reply from Jermok._

* * *

I close the audio file and look at Ming, who's got a grin on his face. I begin to grin as well.

"This is quite the catch Mr. Ming." I say cheerily.

"What can I say? I'm good at what I do" he says smugly, causing me to laugh again.

"And here I thought you were a simple Chinese man running a restaurant." I say jokingly.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, my good friend."

I raise an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you work for Tarvus as well?" I ask. I mean, it would only make sense otherwise he wouldn't have given me the Intel.

Ming nods. "Yes, I do," he says while leaning back and drumming his hands on the counter. "Only the people that work directly under Tarvus know, which includes you now."

"Why didn't Jermok know? He worked for Tarvus." I ask while furrowing my brows.

Ming shrugs. "Tarvus doesn't want anyone to know that he has spies everywhere. He only lets his enforcers know so they can scrounge up any Intel worth following."

Ah, I get it, Tarvus is paranoid that people will stab him in the back, which is understandable in a place like this. Anyone can be bought out for the right amount of credits, and Jermok isn't an exception.

I reach out my hand for Ming to shake, which he does. "Tarvus is going to love this, thank you for the Intel, Ming." I say honestly. If he didn't find out what Jermok was up to, Tarvus' business would be dead within a few weeks.

"Anytime, David," he says while smiling. "I'll message you if I find anything worth reporting to you."

I bring up my omni-tool to transfer the price of the meal. I type in the amount of cash I want to transfer via GalactiBank and hit send. Ming takes a look at his omni-tool and he begins to grin again.

"Now I know why you're my favorite customer." He says happily. I chuckle and begin to walk out of the store.

"Anytime Ming, see you tomorrow!" I shout as I reach the door and walk back onto the market street. The meal cost its usual fifty six credits but I transferred a hundred and eighty-six to him, as a thank you for giving me this information. I'll have it earned back by the end of the week, as Tarvus pays me three hundred credits a week to do my job.

I better make my way back to Tarvus and report my findings to him. I'll tell Torben as well, he'll probably want to rip Jermok's throat out. As much as I don't want to see that, Jermok is threatening Tarvus position as a merchant and that means he's threatening my job and my quick way off of Chalkhos, and I don't like that for a second.

* * *

I begin to walk down Market Street when I'm suddenly approached by a Turian. He beckons me to stop and I do.

"Human, I'm looking for my brother, have you seen him by any chance?" he asks.

"Umm… no I haven't sorry." I reply and begin walking forward, but the Turian puts a talon on my chest to hold me in place.

"Come on, you must've seen him before." he says. I swat his talon away from me.

"Look buddy, I haven't seen your brother before," I point a finger at his face. "Now if you touch me one more time, you're going to regret it."

"I don't think so," the Turian says and he pulls a large knife from under his jacket. "You're the one from Aerinus General, my brother saw you." He points the knife dangerously at my heart. I'm surprised no one's taken notice of this yet, everyone's just going about their business. This is probably an everyday occurrence here on Chalkhos.

I sigh. "Alright, what the fuck do you want from me?" I ask in an annoyed down.

"The bounty, that's what!" he exclaims a little too happily. "And I'll get revenge on the humans that injured my brother!"

Oh god, this guy's got a screw or two loose. I don't think I'll be able to calm him down enough for me to get away. This is going to get hairy soon.

I put up both of my hands in a mock surrender. "Alright, alright you got me," I begin, looking the Turian dead in his beady eyes. "The two hundred credits are yours."

The Turian gives off a flanging laugh. "I knew you humans were weak. Now, do you have any last words before I gut you like a squealing Varren?"

Alright, time to set my faulty plan into motion. "Yeah…" I say hesitantly. At this point in time, I pretend like something's caught my eye behind the Turian. I furrow my brows and move my head a little to the left, looking right past the Turian. He keeps his eyes and knife centered on me. Fuck, this isn't working, time for step two. I widen my eyes in pretend shock and let my mouth drop open, like I've just seen two Asari begin to strip behind the Turian.

This seems to work as the Turian lets his eyes wander for a split second and the grip on his knife loosens a bit. This is my chance.

I swing my right arm forward, effectively swatting the large knife out of his hands. I take him completely by surprise with this move and he launches a blind haymaker forward to try and knock me out. I duck under the talon sailing towards me and retaliate with a left hook, which grazes his lower mandible. Never in my life did I expect to get into a fist fight with a Turian. This certainly is interesting. The Turian sends another talon flying towards me in an uppercut motion. I lean back and the talon flies upwards with such force that it knocks him off balance when it goes sailing above his head. I take my chances and launch my right fist straight at his face. It connects straight with his mandibles and he goes reeling backwards.

He spits what I assume is blood on the ground, seeing as its blue, and growls. I notice that a tiny piece of his upper mandible has been chipped off. Holy shit that must really hurt. The Turian comes barreling towards me again and swings his right talon at me like a knife. It connects and one of the claws rips through my upper arm like a hot knife through butter and I groan in pain. A circle has formed around us filled with people intently watching the street fight. Blood starts to flow freely from my arm and I begin to see red. This motherfucker is going to get it now. The fun ends here.

The Turian launches another punch at me and I dive out of the way and towards the large knife I knocked out of his hand earlier. I flop onto the ground beside the knife and manage to grab it. I turn on my back just in time to see the Turian raise a foot to stomp it into my face I roll out of the way in the knick out time and ram the knife into the Turians other foot. He screams in pain and drops onto on knee. I quickly get up off the floor and stand in front of the Turian. He gets up unsteadily. After a few seconds he limps at me again, and I simply step out of the way and trip him, which makes him go sprawling onto his stomach.

It's time to add some insult to injury. I know he's already lost, but I don't want him to get up for a while. I walk to the left of him as he weakly tries to get up again. I spot that thing that sticks out from the legs of Turian… was it the spurs? I read somewhere that that's a pretty sensitive part of a Turians body. Doesn't matter now anyway. I bring up my right foot and send it slamming down on his left spur. It snaps off like a twig and the wail that escapes is terrible. The Turian begins rolling around on the ground, writhing in pain. That must be excruciating. I roll the Turian on his back and stand over him, grabbing him by his collar and with a lot of strain, I manage to lift him up.

"Are you done now?" I ask through clenched teeth.

"Y…yes." He whines. "P...ple…please don't k…kill me." He manages to say through labored breaths.

"I won't kill you," I begin to say, staring him directly in the eyes. "But if I ever see you again, your spur isn't the only thing I'm going to snap off like a twig." I say in a menacing tone.

The Turians eyes widen. "Do I make myself clear?" I ask, but he doesn't answer.

"Do I make myself clear?!" I shout at him again, and he whimpers and nods. I drop him to the ground and spit beside him. "You make me fucking sick." I spit, venom dripping from my voice. And with that, I leave and head towards Tarvus's shop, the crowd splitting in two when I walk through it.

* * *

I walk into the storeroom of the shop clutching my arm. I'm gonna need some medi-gel to stop the bleeding. I walk into the meeting room and see Garrett sitting at the table. He looks up at me and raises and eyebrow.

"Good evening to you too." He says as he stands up. "What did you get yourself into?" he asks as he examines my arm.

I shrug. "Turian mugged me." I say simply.

Garrett grabs my arm and I wince. "That's a pretty deep cut you've got there, kid. Sit down I'll apply some medi-gel and stitch it up."

I nod and Garrett quickly leaves the room and comes back with a tube of medi-gel and a stapler. My eyes widen at the sight.

"What the hell is that thing?" I ask. Garrett picks up on my look of concern and laughs.

"Medical stapler, Alliance grade," He says while holding the device up. "Used to quickly seal up wounds on the battlefield."

I audibly gulp, much to the amusement of Garrett.

"Oh come on kid, you were just mugged by a Turian and you're scared of a stapler?" he asks. "Oh by the way, what happened to the Turian?"

"I knocked him out and broke off one of his spurs." I state, making Garrett whistle in amazement.

"Damn kid, that's pretty brutal," he says. "I'm surprised you didn't die."

I chuckle mirthlessly. "Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't shit my pants either, I just sorta reacted without thinking."

Garrett brings up my still bleeding arm and holds the medical stapler on the top part of my wound. He presses a button, and with a loud click, my skin is stapled shut, which surprisingly doesn't hurt one bit.

"Well, you did a good job defending yourself, Turians can inflict a lot of damage to humans, especially with those talons," Garrett says while inserting the second staple. "Torben was right, you do have balls."

"Thanks, I appreciate the compliment."

Garrett sends me a crooked smile. He finishes stapling me up and applies some medi-gel to the wound. Huh, I thought medi-gel was applied before stapling up a wound, guess I'm wrong though. The rest of the procedure was done in a comfortable silence and once Garrett finished up, he left the room and disappeared in the sleeping area.

I guess it's the best time to find Tarvus now. I walk across the store room and into his office and see the Turian and Torben sitting at a desk, discussing something. I knock on the frame of the door and Torben looks up at me.

"What the hell do you want, rookie?" he asks in an annoyed tone. "We're in the middle of a meeting."

Tarvus looks up and flexes his mandibles in a scowl. "Can this wait David?"

"No." I deadpan and walk through the door. "It's urgent."

Tarvus sighs. "Alright, what is it."

I open up my omni-tool and bring up the audio file.

"I was talking to a friend of yours, Mr. Ming, and he brought my attention to a problem that has manifested itself within your ranks."

Tarvus raises his brow plates. "What in the universe are you talking about?" he asks.

"There's a problem concerning one of your employed merchants, Jermok." I say and I play the audio file for them. After a few minutes of silence, Torben speaks up.

"That cunt!" he shouts. "I knew he was a spineless bastard!" He slams his hand onto the desk.

"This is a big, big problem." Tarvus says calmly, pacing back and forth. "It's good you came to us with this information."

Torben turns to Tarvus. "Let me pay him a little visit, Tarvus. I'll get rid of the problem for you."

Tarvus nods. "Take David with you this time. You said yourself he's made good progress."

I raise my eyebrows at the remark. "As much as I'd love to come along, I don't have any gear." I say.

Torben waves a hand through the air. "Pah, don't worry about that rookie, Tarvus already has a set of armor ready for you in your locker. If you would've used your damn brain for once, you'd have noticed by now."

Tarvus chuckles. "Alright David, suit up and meet Torben in front of the store in an hour. We're going to kill Jermok."

I put up a hand in protest. "That isn't the best of ideas."

That sentence makes Tarvus raise his brow plates again. "What makes you say that?"

"Yeah, rookie, I know you're dumb but not killing him now is the dumbest thing I've heard you say yet." Torben interjects.

"Think about it for a second. If we go and kill him now, the problem is dealt with sure, but if we don't give him any incentive to think that we've found out that he's defecting, he'll go to the meeting in two weeks and we can intercept him there. Which means we'll probably get locations of some of Ukathan's hideouts and supply lines."

I look back and for between Torben and Tarvus, who seem to be deep in thought.

Tarvus is tapping a talon on his lower mandible. He looks at me and widens his mandibles in a smile. "For a rookie, that's a pretty good plan," he looks to Torben.

"I still don't like it boss. There's too many factors that could go wrong."

"David, leave us for moment." Tarvus says.

I nod and exit the office. Just as the door closes my omni-tool pings. It seems as though I have just gotten a message, and I open my mailbox. It's from Ming.

_My Friend,_

_I have something that might be of interest to you next time you come visit my humble abode. I hope your hunt for Jermok goes well and I look forward to you updating me tomorrow._

_All the best,_

_Ming._

If Ming has something that could be interesting to me, I'm not going to turn down that offer. I'm glad I befriended Ming to be honest, he's turned into a valuable asset and friend, although I want to find out what his actual job was before turning up on Chalkhos.

I sit back down in the meeting room to wait for the decision that Tarvus and Torben will come up with. God, I need a cigarette. I reach into my right pant pocket and pull out my lighter and a packet of cigarettes. I open it and pull a cigarette out, sticking it in my mouth and lighting it with my zippo, after which I take a long drag. I let the smoke fill my lungs and exhale a few seconds later, and a calm feeling washes over me. I was still kind of shaky after the encounter with the Turian and once the adrenaline wore off, I was completely exhausted. This is exactly what I needed.

Benji walks into the meeting room and takes a seat across from me.

"How was your day?" he asks with a smile on his face.

"Eventful." I smile and take another drag from my cigarette.

"Can you spare me a cig? I haven't gotten around to buying any more."

I nod and toss him the packet. He takes one out and I slide him my zippo. He lights the cig and sits back in his chair.

"I've been meaning to ask you Benji," I begin. "Being in the Terminus systems and all, are there any modifications for my omni-tool that could help me out of a tight spot?"

Benji grins. "Well, seeing as we're in the Terminus Systems, the possibilities are endless." He says while doing a sweeping motion with the hand that isn't holding the cigarette. I laugh at his motion and he takes another drag.

"What'd you want to add to your omni-tool?" he asks.

I think for a few seconds before snapping my fingers. "An omni-blade!" I exclaim.

Benji laughs at my excitement and opens his omni-tool.

"I'm sending you the file for it now, anything else?"

"I've always wanted to learn how to incinerate someone." I say, which causes Benji to raise an eyebrow.

"You know that that requires training, right?" he says.

I nod. "I'll ask Torben to teach me how to use it tomorrow."

Benji shrugs. "Alright, was there anything else you wanted on you omni-tool?"

"A hacking module." I state.

"Now you're talkin'" Benji says with a smile on his face. He hits send and the three files appear in my mailbox. I download all three of them and bind the omni-blade feature to a palm button by my index finger. The omni-tool has five buttons in the palm of your hand that you can bind functions to, and I only noticed a few days ago.

I hold out my arm and press the button with my index finger. The omni-blade folds out like a switchblade with its signature sound. Benji gives me an odd look. I'm grinning like an idiot. I deactivate my blade and look back at him. Benji shakes his head and laughs.

"God damn you just looked like a kid in a candy shop during Christmas time," he says. "I'm gonna head to bed for today, I can teach you how to use the hacking-module later in the week if you'd like."

I nod. "That'd be great." And with that, Benji gets up off the table and walks to the sleeping rooms. A few minutes later, the door to Tarvus's office opens and both of Tarvus and Torben walk out.

"We've come to a decision." Tarvus says as he takes a seat in front of me. So does Torben.

"We're going to pay our Salarian friend a little visit tomorrow." Says Torben. "But we're not going to kill him, we're going to collect some money he owes us."

"You're going to be coming along with Torben, seeing as he said that you're ready for some actual jobs now." Tarvus interjects.

"Jermok is always late on paying his tax, and us forcefully beating the money out of him will give him an incentive to leave earlier, which means the problem leaves earlier." Torben continues.

"We get the money and get to kill the traitor earlier." Tarvus says.

Hell, it might seem unethical to do this, but it's a sound plan. As much as I don't like doing this, I'll have to overcome my bad feeling about this at some point. I nod my head.

"Sounds good." I say.

Torben stands up off his chair. "We meet outside the shop at eight AM, don't be fucking late this time." He says and leaves the room.

"Understood." I reply.

Tarvus gets up as well and heads towards the door, but not before turning to me once last time. "Good work David," he says, mandibles widening slightly in a smile. "You're turning out to be a good catch after all."

"Thank you sir." I say and after he's left the room, I make my way to the sleeping area, changing my clothes once I've arrived. I drop onto the bed and fall asleep almost instantly.

* * *

I'm up bright and early the next morning, at least an hour before I'm set to meet Torben outside the shop. I start my usual routine of showering, eating breakfast and cleaning my pistol. Anytime Torben sees me not cleaning my pistol in the morning, I get extra pull-ups during training, so I've built the cleaning into my routine, mostly to avoid more exercises.

I walk over to my locker that I haven't opened for a while and open it. Well I'll be damned, there is a set of armor in here. I take it out and lay it into the table of the meeting room. It's from Hahne-Kedar, looks like the Mantis variant to me. It's not the best armor in the world, but it'll do the trick by all means. I check the left wrist and see that a shield generator is built into the suit. Sweet! I walk back to the locker and see a helmet sitting on the top shelf as well. It looks like a standard Alliance combat helmet to me. The only difference with all of this is the color of the armor. Its matte grey with a white stripe running along each arm. Benji and the others wear this type of armor as well. I better put it one while I can.

The next ten minutes are a struggle of getting into the under-suit of the armor. It's like getting into a wetsuit, no fun at all. After getting past that obstacle, I fit the armor parts onto the under-suit like a puzzle and after a few more minutes of struggling, I finally have my armor on.

Now where do I put my pistol… oh right! There's magnet plates that I can put my weapons on, and my right thigh is the best place for my pistol. I walk over to the bathroom mirror and take look at myself in it. I look pretty badass if I do say so myself. After a few minutes of admiration I walk out of the shop and spot Torben leaning against his usual spot on the wall of the shop.

"You're on time for once, rookie." He says flatly. "Now let's go, we don't want to keep our dear friend waiting."

Torben begins walking down Market Street in the opposite direction of Ming's shop. Huh, I've never really been down this way before. I see shops I haven't seen before, they look pretty nice to be honest. What I do notice though is the fact that a lot of people are actually greeting me, saying good morning and the like. I guess it's the fact that I'm wearing the armor now that makes people give me some degree of respect. But there's always a flipside. While some people greet me, others sneer when they see me and turn away. They most likely work for rival merchants I'm guessing, among those merchants being that bastard Batarian Ukathan, the one that had me beaten half to death. I'm gonna get payback for that someday, he's officially on my shit list now.

It takes a couple of more minutes before we seemingly reach Jermok's shop. It's a pretty small shop compared to the one Tarvus has, but that's not saying much as he's one of the main merchants on the Street.

We reach the front counter, but no one shows up to greet us. Torben casually leans on the counter and presses a holographic button and once it's pressed, a bell sound rings through the store. Torben glances over to me.

"Keep watch for anything suspicious until we're inside the shop." He orders.

"Understood."

I begin scanning the area while we wait for Jermok to appear. I see nothing out of the ordinary yet, but that could change at any moment. I put on my helmet and with a hissing sound, it becomes a part of my hard suit. My vision isn't hindered at all by the helmet and it feels like my eyes aren't covered by anything at all. The only different thing I see is a small HUD in the bottom right of my field of view. That's pretty nifty.

Torben glances back to me. "You can mark targets you find suspicious by looking at them and blinking twice. The target will be marked by an orange glow as long as you don't lose sight with them."

That's fucking sweet. This'll make scouting a whole lot easier.

Torben's growing impatient and he presses the bell again, to no avail. It's at this moment I spot a group of Batarians huddled together, occasionally glancing over to us. I blink twice and one of them gets surrounded by an orange glow.

"I see three Batarians watching us, at about one o'clock."

"We're going inside, keep an eye on them while we're talking to our little friend once we find him." He says in an angry tone. He hops over the counter and I do the same. I position myself so I still have the Batarians in my sight. After a few minutes, the shutters of the store close and the doors icon turns red.

"Rookie!" I hear Torben shout from further into the store. "You can help me find our friend now!"

I tear my eye off the now closed off street and begin looking around the shop for Jermok. A Salarian can't be that hard to spot. I begin sifting through the store, checking his room and bathroom. It seems like most people live in their shops, interesting.

I'm just about to walk out of the small kitchen when I hear a rustle behind me. I stop in my tracks and slowly turn around. He's hiding in the cup boards. Is this guy eleven? Last time I hid in a cupboard was when I was playing hide and seek with friends while I was in Kindergarten.

I walk over and rip open one of the cupboards. Nothing. I walk over to the next one and open it, only to be met by a Salarian cowering down in a ball. He looks at me and screams.

"Found him!" I shout over to Torben who comes rushing over.

"Hi Jermok!" he says in a mock happy tone. He grabs Jermok by the neck and pulls him out of the cupboard. Jermok is forcefully pressed into a chair by Torben, who restrains his hands behind his back with a piece of rope he found lying in a shelf.

"Rookie, if he tries anything funny, shoot him." Torben orders and I pull my gun and point it at him.

"Now then, Jermok, I think there's something you owe Tarvus." Torben begins to say.

Jermok's eyes widen. "I don't know what you're talking abo-" Jermok is interrupted by a Torben's right fist connecting with his face. He screams out pain. I keep my gun trained on Jermok, but I know he's not going to try anything, he's scared out of his mind.

"Now let's try this again." Torben says impatiently. "There's something you owe Tarvus, and I'm here to collect it."

"Please yo...you have to understand that I don't have enough money!" Jermok pleads, only to have another fist collide with his face. Another scream echoes through the store. God damn this is getting harder to watch by the second.

"One more time!" Torben exclaims happily. "We're here to collect some money that you've been holding back from Tarvus."

I can hear Jermok begin to sob, and it's getting harder and harder for me to not intervene. This is wrong, just plain fucking wrong.

"I don't have enough!" he yells through his sobs. "I barely have enough to live ever since I messed up that Flex shipment!"

Torben laughs. "Wrong answer again Jermok! We're not leaving until we get the money from you!"

This time, Torben punches Jermok square in the stomach, effectively knocking all the wind out of his skinny body. Jermok's sobs are getting stronger and the knot in my stomach is as well. I can't just stand by and let this happen. But if I interfere, I'll be the one who Torben will punch next.

"Where's your safe?" Torben roars at Jermok, who cowers in the chair and squeezes his eyes shut.

"I… I don't have a sa-" Another fist interrupts Jermok and this time, something cracks. I think Torben just fractured his skull.

I lower my gun slightly and look at Torben. "Hasn't he had enough?" I ask. Torben looks over to me and scowls. "No. I know he's hiding something and giving him mercy now will not fix this problem."

"But look at him, he's-" I'm suddenly interrupted by Torben.

"Shut the fuck up!" he roars at me. "You signed up to do this job knowing the risks! You signed up knowing you were going to do unethical things! So shut your fucking mouth and do your job!"

This effectively shuts me up and I aim my pistol back up at Jermok, who's looking at me with pleading eyes. He mouths something along the lines of help me which makes my heart drop. It's my fault I signed up for this and it's my fault I got Jermok into this mess. I officially signed his death warrant for him, and it's making me feel terrible. I know he fucked up in his own rights, but seeing a man this helpless just gets to me.

"One last time Jermok, where's your safe?" Torben shouts again. "One more wrong answer and your life is going to be a living hell until you wither and die!"

Jermok lets his head hang in defeat. "B… behind the fridge. The code is 7521."

Torben cuts the rope tying Jermok's hands together but kicks over his chair, making Jermok tumble to the ground. From there, he curls up into a ball and quietly begins to cry. Fuck, I feel like absolute shit. How is this right? How on earth can someone justify this? I picked the wrong profession, I don't think I'm cut out for this. But I promised Tarvus I'd do this and breaking a promise to Tarvus would result in me getting killed. I'll probably get used to it eventually but right now, damn. I'm not going to be sleeping tonight.

"Well would you look at that."

I'm snapped out of my thoughts and look over to Torben, who's holding up a credit chit.

"There's twenty thousand credits on this thing, more than enough to pay your taxes at least four times over Jermok."

He doesn't respond, and keeps quietly crying to himself.

"We'll be on our way now dear friend," Torben says in a tone that suggests he's enjoying this way too much.

Torben opens the door and walk out. I quickly follow suit and exit the store.

"See you next month!" is the last the Torben shouts before the shop door closes. He then looks to me.

"Don't ever question me again, you hear me?" he hisses. "Next time, you'll be the one in the chair. Get used to images like this, you're going to be seeing a lot more of it."

And with that he begins walking back towards Tarvus's shop. I quickly fall into step a few paces behind him and begin to mull over what just happened.

This is my fault, and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm going to be seeing a lot more violent things and if I don't get used to it quickly, I'm not going to survive this place.

I sigh and shake my head.

This isn't good, this isn't good at all.

* * *

_Finally a chapter with some action! I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for a while now, since it shows the brutal and naked truth of what David has gotten himself in to. If he doesn't adapt, he'll die. The brutality of Chalkhos is something that David hasn't gotten used to yet, and he'll need to get used to seeing more unethical and violent acts._ _You've also met Mr. Ming, another supporting character of Reduced Mass. He'll act more behind the scenes, informing David of anything that might be of interest to him. You'll see more of him and get to know more about him in the future, so stay tuned!_

_Like always, make sure to review and give feedback, I love hearing from you guys!_

_Until next time!_

_David._


	5. Eerie Silence

_Hey Everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of Reduced Mass! Last time around David got second doubts about doing this job after Torben almost beat Jermok half to death. It looks like David's innocence and his morals are going to have to take a hike if he wants to survive this place without going completely mad. Will he succeed? Well, you'll just have to keep following the story to find out._

_I've changed a little thing about the story. I've changed the rating to T, as for the moment I don't see anything that should be rated as M. The SI's I've read have T ratings and are similar in the swearing and violence department, so until something ultra-violent pops up, it'll stay rated as T._

_Also, Reduced Mass has surpassed 1500 views, which is completely amazing! I always think that everything I write is nothing short of crap and seeing your reviews, feedback and not to mention amount of view, I'm extremely happy! I promise you that you made the right choice in starting to read this fic, as the journey ahead of David is long and is going to take a while to complete. It'll be worth it though, I promise!_

_Now, this chapter is going to have a little bit of everything: action, interaction and all that jazz. Last chapter was pretty long at 8k words and I don't know if I'll end the chapter at under that amount of words, or over. When I start writing, I tend to just write on the fly. Sure, I have a really rough outline of what should happen in the chapter, but the details I add in as I write._

_Now, without further ado, let's get to the action!_

* * *

I jolt out of sleep with a cold sweat covering my forehead. It's been four days since Torben and I gave Jermok that hazing, well only Torben gave the hazing, I was forced to stand by and watch. I've been sleeping uneasy since, with Jermok's wails still waking me up at least once a night. If something like that gives me nightmares, how the fuck am I supposed to ever go to sleep when I kill my first man. I sit up straight in my bed and put my hands on my head. I'm in way over my head and there's no way for me to abort. I need to forget my morals in a place like this, but why can't I? It seems impossible for me to forget about the fact that I'm going to be beating and killing people in this place. I can't imagine them as inanimate objects, those don't scream for help or yell out in pain. I know my fridge has never done that.

I check the time on my omni-tool, and it shows that it's almost five in the morning. I gotta get up in about an hour anyway, seeing as my training with Torben starts around seven. My morning routine takes about an hour, with me cleaning my pistol taking up over half of that hour. Fuck it, might as well get up now, I'm not gonna be getting much more rest anyway.

I slowly rise out of bed, making sure that I don't wake up Benji or Garrett and sneak my way to the bathroom. Once I'm in front of the mirror, I examine myself. I need a haircut, my hair is getting too long for my own liking. It's usually around an inch and a half long on the top and I use wax to put it back so it doesn't go flying all over the place, but I've stopped doing that ever since I got here. One reason being that I can't find any fucking wax here for the life of me, only Varren lard, which is basically a natural substitute. If you think I'm putting Varren lard in my hair, you can go fuck yourself. The second reason for not styling my hair is the fact that I spend half my day sweating buckets because of Torben's training and my hair goes flying all over the place anyway during that time. Maybe they'll have some wax on the citadel when I get there. If I get there.

Ugh, the doubts are back. I'm gonna need to get rid of them quick, unless I want to get fired from this job. I'll have to ask Benji on how he managed to cope with these doubts, which I'm pretty sure he had when first starting this job two years ago. Seeing as he loves what he's doing now, saying 'go fuck yourself' to your morals can't be all that hard. I mean, I had no problems in beating down that Turian, but that's probably because he provoked me. God this can't be that hard! I sigh while staring at myself in the mirror. I haven't shaved in these three weeks of me being in this universe either, although I don't mind that one bit. I've got quite a bit of stubble now, which is nice, considering that I've always looked better with a beard anyway. It's great being able to grow a beard at nineteen, a lot of guys my age usually only grow something along the lines of facial pubes. But seeing as that's their first facial hair, they keep it on their faces although they probably know that it looks horrendous.

I pick up my toothbrush and uncap the tube of toothpaste that I bought a week ago. I still can't get over the fact that everything sounds so cheesy here. Who names their toothpaste _'Dr. Grognar's InstaWhite'_?I can't bring myself to say that name without shaking my head. I never expected a Krogan to be someone who invented a type of toothpaste, I know the Krogan have scientists but… aren't they more worried about curing the Genophage than making toothpaste? Oh well, I can't really complain, it's a pretty nice tasting toothpaste. One of the only ones with mint flavor.

I squeeze the toothpaste onto the brush and stick begin brushing my teeth. After about two minutes I spit out the foam in my mouth and rinse it out. After that, I hop in the shower and let the cold water run over me. I always take cold showers in the morning, they properly wake me up. I hop out of the shower a few minutes later and put on my armor. Torben's making me wear it daily now so I get used to the feeling of it basically being my second skin. Getting in and out of it is still a chore, but I'm getting better and better at it as the days go by.

Once I've put my armor on, I walk into the meeting room and take a bottle of water out of it. I sit down at the table and open my omni-tool and start reading this week's issue of the Chalkhos Crier. Its yellow press, but it's the only newspaper where I can find out what else happens in Chalkhos, albeit being extremely biased. A large crime lord owns the paper and anything his goons do is pushed onto someone else. It's amusing to read their attempts at covering shit up, cause it's incredibly bad.

Like always, there's nothing interesting to read about and I promptly close the site. Torben walks into the meeting room and stands in front of the entrance, crossing his arms.

"Rookie, you're up early." He says, his voice having the faintest trace of surprise.

"Couldn't sleep." I say, looking up from my omni-tool.

Torben laughs. "What's the matter, still thinking about that stupid Salarian? What are you, his lover or something?"

I chuckle mirthlessly. "Funny," I look back onto the omni-tool. "Just couldn't sleep."

"Well, now that you're up, you're coming with me, there's a job that needs doing."

I raise an eyebrow. "You sure you wanna take me and not Garret or Benji?"

"No." he states. "You need the experience."

I get up from the table. "Alright, what's the job?"

"Drug deal, scientist from Omega developed a stronger version of Flex and he's selling it to us."

"Sounds important." I say, causing Torben to nod.

"It is, and you better not fuck it up," He says, pointing a finger at me. "We're accompanying Tarvus on this one so be ready in half an hour."

"Understood." I reply. Torben leaves the room and Benji walks in seconds later.

"You got another job?" he asks curiously, to which I nod. "Is it the drug deal?"

"Yeah, how did you find out?" I ask with a hint of surprise in my voice.

Benji laughs and takes a seat at the table. "Oh please, this drug deal has been planned for months, I'd be mentally challenged if I didn't know about it."

Planned for months? This must be really important. "Sounds important." I say, furrowing my brows.

"You don't know the half of it," he begins. "It's the most important thing Tarvus has had on his schedule for at least half a year now."

My eyes widen at the remark. "Well why the hell am I coming along then?" I ask.

Benji shrugs. "Hell if I know. Maybe Torben is testing you."

Huh, that is a pretty good point. Torben wants me to gain experience so I'm not completely useless, so maybe seeing me perform under pressure is a way of gauging my skills at this point in time. I sigh and shake my head. "Maybe, I guess I'll just have to find out."

I sit back down at the table and look at Benji. "How did you do it?" I ask, tapping my fingers on the table. Benji gives me a confused look.

"How did I what?" he responds, still giving me a confused look.

"Get over hurting and killing people." I ask, averting my eyes to the table. God that was such a stupid question.

"Having doubts?" Benji asks as he leans forward. I look back up at him and nod weakly.

"Believe me, I was in your situation two years ago, but overcoming that fear comes quicker than you expect in a place like this."

"How did you manage?"

Benji leans forward a little more.

"One thing that still helps me is that I know that everyone here would do the same things to me as the ones I do when doing my job if they had the chance. Everyone here on this planet has a criminal record and if they don't, they shouldn't be here."

He makes a good point. I'm pretty sure if I show mercy to someone here, they're going to use the next chance to stab me in the back. As pathetic as Jermok was whimpering, I know that he made a mistake, one that should be punished. I may not agree with the way that he was punished, but I don't see police or a judge anywhere. In a place like this, you have to take things into your own hands.

"Just know that any enemy that you don't kill here will come back for you. And they'll know that you're week. Mercy is a concept that doesn't work in the Terminus."

Benji gives me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's a dog eat dog world here, only the strongest survive."

I nod. "What about your first kill, did you have problems with that?"

"Oh of course. It was one of Ukathan's thugs, tried to harass me while I was at a bar with Garrett," he begins, looking into the distance as if trying to remember the details.

"He started talking shit to me and Garrett, and I tried to avoid the confrontation by trying to ignore him. Started talking about my parents and him knowing that they're dead and I flipped. Gave him a giant beating." He pauses for a second and takes a sip of his cup of coffee.

"He limped out of the club saying that he was going to come kill me tomorrow and that I'll regret not killing him now, and of course I thought he was only rambling." He scoffs and shakes his head. "I was naïve."

"I can sense what happened next." I interject, and Benji laughs.

"Yep. Next morning I was in the entertainment district coming home from the long night with Garrett, who left a little earlier and there he was, gun pointing at my face. I was scared out of my mind."

I lean forward. "What happened next?" I ask curiously.

"He was still inebriated, so I disarmed him and made him get on his knees. He started begging for his life."

I furrow my brows. "And you killed him." I say. It wasn't a question because I know he did the way this story is going.

Benji nods. "I did knowing that if I didn't, he would be back a third time. He'd have seen me as week and I probably would've been dead next time. I was lucky that he was drunk otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"How did you feel after that?" I ask.

"Terrible for the first week or so, then the feeling set in that I did the right thing," he begins to respond. "Like I said, I'd have been dead if I didn't kill him."

Damn, that's a harsh way of thinking, but now that I think about it, he's right. "As much as I hate to agree with you, I have to," I say. "I just have to realize that I'm not on earth anymore."

"Exactly, everyone puts themselves first here, thinking too much about others gets you killed."

I raise my eyebrows at the remark. "So given the chance, you'd stab me in the back?"

"Depends on the situation."

Damn. The comment makes me realize just how alone I am on Chalkhos. Sure I have the people I work with and I consider Benji a friend, but now I know that even he puts himself first and if a convenient situation arises, he'd take it and leave everyone behind. Maybe I should start doing the same. Sympathy is unhealthy here.

"What kind of situation?" I ask, folding my hands together on the table. Benji thinks for a moment before responding.

"If Tarvus told me that he wanted you gone, I wouldn't hesitate to do it. Or if there was a high bounty on your head, I would bring you in, dead or alive."

Benji leans back and takes a cigarette out of a pouch of his armor. "And I expect you to do the same." He adds. "Because if you don't, I'll be the one that'll be back to kill you."

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in. My view on this situation has been wrong this entire time. Benji seems to pick up on this and smiles. "Did I scare you?" he quips.

"I just didn't expect that response." I respond, causing Benji to chuckle.

"Just a warning that everything isn't all peachy here on Chalkhos. Doesn't mean we can't be friends though." Benji gives me a crooked smile.

This is surreal. If I was back in the year 2014 and someone who is ready to kill me at any moment wanted to be friends with my, I'd have told him to take a hike. But I have to play along with this. I was naïve to think that people were ready to help me here. Sure, Ming helps me out, but only for the right amount of cash that I fork over daily at this restaurant.

I chuckle, leaning back in my chair. "Thanks for the warning, I needed the reality check."

Benji smiles again. "Anytime. I was in your situation and I know how you feel, so if you need to talk to somebody, just tell me."

I get up from the table and begin walking out of the room. "I appreciate it." I say and turn back to Benji, who gives me a thumbs up. I flash him a quick smile and walk out of the room, checking my omni-tool for the time as I walk. I got at least ten more minutes before I'm set to meet Torben and Tarvus in front of the store. I'll call up Mr. Ming, seeing as he had something interesting for me and I haven't mentioned it last time I was there. I sift through my contacts and click on the name Ming. After a few seconds, a holographic image of Ming appears on my arm.

"Ah, if it isn't my favorite customer!" he exclaims. "What can I do for you today?"

"Hey Ming," I begin to say. "About four days ago, you said that you've found something interesting for me."

Ming drums his index finger on his chin. "Ah! Now I remember!" he says excitedly, snapping his fingers. "I recently found out that one of the merchants working for Ukathan has got his hands on a shipment of Serrice Council omni-tools. They might be of interest to you, seeing as they sell for a large amount of money."

I whistle in amazement. "Damn Mr. Ming, what would I do without you?" I quip. Mr. Ming chuckles.

"The merchants name is Drorok, he can be located at the far end of Market Street."

"Thank you Mr. Ming, I'll be sure to return the favor to you as soon as possible." I thank him, bowing my head slightly.

"Anytime David." He replies, also giving me a slight bow. With that I cut the call and make my way over to the front of the store. I might be a little early, but Germans are always either a little early or on time.

* * *

"There you are rookie." Torben sneers. Tarvus turns around and gives me a nod of acknowledgement.

"Nice to see you too Torben," I deadpan. Torben's irrational hate for me has stopped bothering me for a while now. I tolerate him, and he hasn't killed me yet, which in his language means that he tolerates me. "Tarvus." I say while giving him the same nod he gave me.

Tarvus looks at both Torben and I. "Now I want the both of you to know how important this is for the business." He reaches into a bag slung over his… shoulder I think and tosses me two things that look like those gum containers with a smaller lid on top.

I catch both of them, and I mentally mark down the thirty style points that I've given myself. I take a look at the objects and furrow my brows. "And these are…?"

"Grenades, you half-wit." Torben mutters from behind me. Grenades? Why the hell do we need those?

"I thought this was just going to be a simple drug deal." I retort. This doesn't add up.

"Seeing as this is your first time actually taking part in a drug deal on Chalkhos, I'll explain it to you," Tarvus says, sounding somewhat impatient.

"No one can know that we made the deal, and the person bringing us the modified flex is most likely going to bring a security detail with him."

"And they're liabilities, even the guy selling us the Flex." Torben interject. "They can be bought out with the right amount of cash, and they can't tell anyone about the deal if they're dead."

God. Damn. It. It's time for me to kill someone, and I'm not really ready for it. My heart begins to beat faster and a knot forms in my stomach. It's a good thing they can't read my heart rate, because it's off the charts at the moment. I just gotta stop my breath from getting out of control and they won't notice that I'm literally scared out of my mind now.

"I hope we're done chatting, we don't want to be late." Tarvus interrupts the short silence that took over the three of us. I put on my helmet and it hisses as it becomes one with my hard-suit. "As ready as I'll ever be." I say with resignation in my voice.

Torben doesn't say anything and just puts on his watermelon sized helmet. Even Tarvus has armor on I've noticed, but he's hidden it under his clothes. Doesn't wanna arouse any suspicion I'm guessing. I also caught a glimpse of the pistol he's got hidden in his Jacket. Well, I guess it's a jacket, cause I have no clue what Turian's actually wear. I usually see them wearing some futuristic one-piece, or armor, but a Turian jacket is new to me.

Tarvus begins to walk down Market Street towards the central hub connecting the other four arms of the City. Aerinus is basically set in up the shape of a plus sign, or a cross if you're thinking religiously. But I don't really know which comparison fits better, seeing as I didn't measure the lengths of the arms. The arm we're in is Market Street, where everyone buys everything they need here in Aerinus.

In the middle is a humongous cube shaped room, which is the central hub. Its main function is something along the lines of a transit area like we had in 21st century airports. There's hotels everywhere, countless lounges and bars that are made for the people only staying here for a little while. The upper class of Chalkhos along with the travelling merchants and officers of known merc groups enjoy the "good" life here and the price for anything here from some water to a crystalized bottle of Champagne is extortionate.

The arm to the left of Market Street is the entertainment district. They have absolutely everything there. Brothels, arcades, bars, strip clubs, cinemas, you name it, they have it. If I estimated the distance right, the arm is about two kilometers long, so it's basically one giant pleasure palace. This is also the place where all the hits and assassinations go down. It's the easiest place for someone to vanish into a crowd.

The arm to the right of Market Street is the spaceport, which is where all the shuttles land. There's hundreds of docks, shipyards and all the illegal shipments arrive here. It's one of the quietest places on Chalkhos. Why that is, I have no idea.

The last arm right across the central hub from Market Street is the residential arm. None of the team goes in there. It's the most dangerous place here, with screams and gunshots that can be heard from the central hub echoing through the city almost every ten minutes. It's like the station grew a tumor, and all the thugs, scumbags, rapists and all the other people that I can't stand moved in there. A mercenary group actually took it upon themselves to create a high security checkpoint at the entrance of the arm, effectively locking everyone they don't want in the rest of the city in there. It's basically the slum of the slum of Chalkhos.

We reach the central hub of the station and I'm expecting us to turn left or right any minute now, but we don't.

"Uhm, Tarvus?" I ask nervously. "Where exactly are we going?"

"I set up the meeting in the residential district," he begins to explain, and a chill runs down the length of my spine. "No one asks any questions when someone gets murdered in broad daylight. There are no real witnesses there."

"No real witnesses?"

Torben sighs in exasperation. "God damn rookie, do you have to ask so many fucking questions?"

I raise up my hands in defense. "Sorry, but I'd like to know what we're facing here."

Torben grunts and begins to list off the dangers. "Murderers, rapists, thugs, drug dealers, mentally unstable people, serial killers, rouge mercs, bounty hunter, you name it." He says with no emotion in his voice. Damn, this is going to be interesting.

"Alright, well now I know why I have the grenades on me." I joke half-heartedly.

Torben takes one of the two knives he's carrying and tosses one to me. "You'll need this as well, lots of tight corridors we're going to be going through."

It's a kukri. I guess this'll come in handy then. My armor has a sheath for knives built into its left leg, I just have to see if it fits. I slowly slide in the knife and it fits like a glove. God, this day is just getting worse and worse. I told myself I would never go into the residential area as long as I'm here, but look at me now. Only working this job for two and a half weeks and I'm already on my best way to dying.

The three of us cross the central hub and arrive at the huge passageway that leads into the residential area. We are promptly stopped by a Turian merc in blue armor. Blue Suns, I should've known.

"Tarvus," the merc begins to say. "I thought we told you to stay out of the area."

Tarvus gives off a flanging laugh. "You know you can't keep me away from this place Ambus, you can look the other way this time can't you?"

Tarvus takes out what seems to be a credit chit out of his jacket and gives it to Ambus by firmly shaking his hand.

Ambus widens his mandibles in a smile. "Who were you again?" he asks jokingly. "Go on through Tarvus, just make sure to not cause too much trouble in here again."

Tarvus nods and begins to walk into the residential area. I follow close behind and so does Torben, who's got his hand of the hilt of his knife, grabbing it firmly. We seem to walk by dozens of blue suns mercs that are stationed here, all sitting behind makeshift barricades watching the main road of the residential area closely, which is surprisingly empty. None of the mercs pay any attention to us though, and we pass the checkpoint within a minute. Once were out of earshot of the mercs conversations, a sudden feeling of dread washes over me. It's silent. Dead fucking silent.

"How many people live in this hive?" I ask, nudging Tarvus, who seems to be just as irked by the silence as I am.

"About four hundred thousand." He responds slowly.

"Something isn't right." Torben grunts. "It's never this quiet."

The knot in my stomach tightens and my heart rate goes into overdrive. I'm expecting something along the lines of an ambush any second now.

"Four hundred thousand people can't be this quiet." I mutter, grabbing the hilt of my knife tightly. I'm glad I had four days of hand to hand combat training with Torben, it makes me feel a little more confident if I have to get up close and personal with someone here.

"Let's keep moving." Tarvus says as me motions us further down the main street. His voice is echoing all over the place. This can't be right, before we came here, there were at least some people on the road here. Where the hell did they go? Before we start walking again, I manage to take a good look at just how big this place is. It's about three times as high as Market Street, which means that there's around three times as many floors. I'd say from floor to roof it's about a hundred and twenty meters, with the highest floor at around a hundred. The biggest difference though is that the roof isn't glass, it's just metal.

You wanna to know what the worst part is? The lighting. Aside from lights all the way at the top of the ceiling, only very dim lights loosely hang from poles on the ground floor. The lighting reminds me of the lighting from the game 'Five nights at Freddy's'. The lighting is just enough for you to see where you are, but not bright enough for you to be able to look a hundred feet in front of you. The area itself was about sixty to seventy meters wide, and slim bridges connected the different sides of the upper floors.

We begin to cautiously walk down the main road, making sure to not make too much noise. I'm still grabbing the hilt of my knife and periodically checking if my gun is still on my right leg. Aside from our footsteps, that eerie sound of silence you feel in your ear was beginning to ring. I nervously keep looking to my sides, just waiting for someone to jump out of the hundreds of alleyways that line the street. God damn this is absolutely terrifying.

I nudge Tarvus, and he jolts in surprise. He turns around and gives me a disapproving look.

"Where the hell is the meeting place?" I whisper to him.

He points somewhere diagonally down the road. "Second to last alley on the right."

I sigh, but it sounds more like a whimper. I don't want to be here. There's a nagging feeling at the back of my mind telling me to 'get the fuck out', but I'm sure getting split up now would mean death.

We keep walking for what seems like an eternity and I keep checking my surroundings for anything suspicious. The silence carried through the entire time.

"Rookie."

I jolt at the remark and quickly spin around. Torben gives me a disapproving look.

"What the hell is making you this jumpy?" he asks with a scowl on his face.

I narrow my eyes at him. Good thing he can't see my expression through the helmet.

"The sheer amount of noise." I reply sarcastically. "I can't hear myself think."

I turn back around at feel a large hand slap the back of my head.

"Shut the fuck up," comes the venomous response from Torben. "Turn on your night vision and stop being a little bitch about this."

"Night vision?"

Torben sighs. "Fuck me you really are stupid. Your omni-tool is linked with your armor, activate it from there."

"Oh."

Torben just shakes his head and keeps walking forward. I open my omni-tool and sure enough, another Icon is now located on the main screen. _'ArmorLink'_ is the name of the new application and I tap the button. I'm greeted by an interface. Sure enough, I can activate night vision, which I promptly do. Oh, this is nice. Everything's green now, but I can see exponentially further now.

I fall back into step with Torben and Tarvus and our path starts shifting to the right side of the street. We must be close to the alley.

"We're here," Tarvus stops us. "Torben and I will go inside and get the Flex."

Wait, wait, wait. What?

"And what about me?" I look at Tarvus with a surprised expression.

"Make sure no one comes in behind us."

My stomach does a flip. They want me to stand out here by myself? What the fuck kind of a sick joke is this?

"You want me… to wait… here?" I stammer.

"Yes." Comes the instant reply from Tarvus.

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't that seem a little dangerous to you?" I look back and forth between Tarvus and Torben.

"You'll be fine rookie, there's no one around anyway." Torben says. I can see that he's enjoying this.

I swat my hand through the air. "Fine." I say.

"This shouldn't take long, just keep your eyes open and your ears sharp." Tarvus says somewhat reassuringly and with that, they both disappear into the alleyway. Fuck me, I hate waiting. I stand on the right side of the doorway and begin to look around. Right, this isn't so bad. Nothing should go wrong, right. I begin to nervously fidget around. Waiting always makes me uneasy. Just waiting for the unknown irks me in some way, and I don't know why. If I was told to wait in a small room with a lockable door I wouldn't really have a problem with it but looking at this monster of a place, someone could be watching me right now. If there were people around this would be half as bad as this already is. The fact that a place where four hundred thousand people live is as silent as a crypt is just wrong. At least I can see now, with my night vision and a-

My night vision suddenly shuts off. Huh, weird. Maybe the app just cra… wait, what the fuck? Why can't I open my omni-tool? I know I activate it by thinking about activating it but it's not working. It can't just have stopped working.

In the distance, something drops and the sound echoes through the entire residential area. I jolt at the sound and un-holster my gun, frantically scanning the area in front of me, which has gotten significantly darker since my night vision shut off. Another sound of something dropping echoes through the large building and my neck hair begins to stand up. Something is wrong, terribly, terribly wrong. I better contact Torben over my helmet radio. I put my hand up to the receiver on the helmet and tune in the frequency that we were assigned by Tarvus for this job.

"Torben this is David, come in." I begin to say, but I'm only met by static. "Torben, can you read me?"

Nothing again, just static.

"This is not good, not good at all." I quietly mutter to myself, rubbing the back of my helmeted head.

Another loud clang resonates in the distance, causing another chill to run down my now frozen spine. I try to contact Torben again, to no avail. I hope they're ok in there, but I'm pretty sure they can manage without me. My omni-tool still doesn't work, so I can't even distract myself from all this, or start blaring music to smash this silence.

The next two minutes drag on to forever, with me constantly looking in every direction, making sure no one has crept up on me. Two minutes tick by to make it five, and I'm just about to put my gun away when my helmet feed cuts to absolute static. I begin to breathe rapidly as panic washes over me. The shock the sudden feed loss gave me was larger than I thought as my hands start to shake. I'm trying my hardest in taking the helmet off but I just can't seem to find the release. I bump my head into the wall rather forcefully and stagger back. I'm glad nobody that I know is seeing this right now.

I finally find the release button for my helmet and with a hiss, it separates itself from my armor. I practically fling it to the ground and begin to look around. My breath is still hitched and my heart rate hasn't lowered itself yet. I swing my head from left to right. Nothing out of the ordinary now. That can't be right, my gear can't just start malfunctioning. I quickly bend down to pick up my pistol that I dropped during my frantic attempts to take off my helmet. I begin to try to get my breathing under control when I begin to hear a faint sound coming from the left of me. I raise my gun in the general direction of the noise as I feel it begin to come closer. My heart literally stops at the realization.

The sound is that of footsteps, and they're coming closer.

I strain my eyes, scanning the area for any person that might be coming closer to me, but I see nothing. Whoever is sneaking up on me is doing a terrible job in the sound department as even the smallest of his footsteps echo through the residential area. But, I still can't see the fucker, if there is any of course. At least my eyes have gotten used to the dim lighting in this place.

I pick up the slightest bit of movement in my peripheral vision. I swing my gun and myself in a way so I'm facing whatever I might've seen head on. Suddenly, the footsteps stop and I'm bathed in silence again. That can't be right. Unless…

I begin to strain my eyes again and stare dead ahead. Oh my god, I was right. About ten meters away from me, I see the almost invisible shape of a person. If I wasn't actively looking for a cloak right now, I would've dismissed it as something being in my eye. The cloaked figure is standing deathly still right in front of me.

"You move a muscle, and you're dead." I say, my gun continuously pointing at the figure. "Now, uncloak."

The figure complies and uncloaks. It's a woman in black armor, hair done up neatly in a ponytail.

"And here I thought you were blind," she quips. "I guess I was wrong."

"Shut the fuck up," I hiss. "Put your damn hands up and keep them there."

She complies and put her hands up. "You're a feisty one, aren't you?" she winks at me. "I like them feisty."

"I appreciate the compliment lady, but I don't feel like being seduced today." I say dryly, making her chuckle. "Now what the fuck do you want and why did you sneak up on me?"

"Simple, I want the Flex."

"Who sent you?"

She laughs at that comment. "Why the hell would I tell you that?"

She's right, why the hell would she tell me? I guess I can mess with her a little. "I don't know, you tell me."

The woman furrows her brows. "What? That doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't? Why not?"

She's looking really confused now. "Listen, are you mentally challenged?"

"Not that I know of." I reply, gun still pointing at her chest. "I hope you brought a shield generator with you though."

The woman's expression falters for a millisecond. She immediately regains her composure and gives me a serious look. "I don't leave home without it."

Gunfire erupts out of the alleyway. Tarvus and Torben must've started on their plan. The woman's gaze wanders behind me and into the alleyway. I quickly take a peek behind me and am taken completely off-guard by the kick that has launched itself into my stomach. Fuck, my own trick was used against me! All the air is forcefully expelled from my lungs and I reel backwards, yet I somehow manage to not crumple to the floor. I regain my composure and scan my surroundings. Fuck, she's cloaked again.

I pick up my pistol off the floor and begin walking around the room with it held in a constant shooting position.

"This is hardly fair!" I yell into the nothingness. I hear the familiar sound of someone uncloaking instantly turn around. She's right behind me, and I aim at her head and squeeze the trigger, but not before she knocks my arm to the side, causing my shot to fly into a pillar behind her. She cloaks again and I'm left blindly looking around the giant room again.

"Come on you bitch! Make this a fair fight!" I yell provokingly into the room.

She uncloaks in front of me again. I guess she doesn't like being called a bitch. I holster my pistol and get into a fighting position. Firing my gun wouldn't work anyway, she's too close for me to properly aim anyway.

"Now we're talking." I say whilst slightly bouncing on the balls of my feet. She sneers at me.

"Do you even know who you're fighting?" she asks.

"A green leprechaun who's about to give me their pot of gold?" I reply with a grin.

I think I just made her snap. She lets out a growl and charges at me, instantly letting her right fist fly towards my face. I lean to the right and let it sail by, all whilst launching my right fist at her ribs. She predicts the move and leans back enough for me to miss her ribs. She grabs my right arm out of the air and brings pulls me in for a knee to the stomach. The air is knocked out of me for a second time and this time I tumble to the ground.

"Pathetic." She spits. "Are you ready to give me an actual challenge?"

I manage to get up and regain my breath enough for me to talk. "You're not from here, are you?"

"What makes you say that? I could be from anywhere." She says through slightly labored breaths.

"You could've easily killed me there," I begin to explain. "But you didn't. You don't know the golden rule of Chalkhos."

She raises an eyebrow. "Well, do you know the golden rule?"

"No." I say, and charge at her again, this time I try the newest thing that Torben taught me, the roundhouse kick. Surprisingly, my apparent ramp up of skill takes her completely off-guard and my foot connects squarely with her face. She stumbles and falls to the floor. I un-holster my gun and just as I'm about to shoot her, she cloaks and rolls away, leaving my shots to impact the floor harmlessly.

I groan. "So, we're back to this point in our relationship again? I though you said you were going to change for me!" I shout. If provoking her gets her to uncloak, then provoke her I shall!

But this time, she doesn't uncloak. Huh, maybe she's learned her lesson now. What I'm wondering though is, where the fuck are the supposed four hundred thousand inhabitants of this place?

"Does this mean you're breaking up with me?"

"Can it you annoying prick."

She uncloaks right behind me and points my gun at my head, taking me into a sort of chokehold from behind. Damn, she's pretty strong

"This i…is hardly f…fair."I say through attempted breaths for air, seeing as she's cutting off airflow to the rest of my body by choking me.

"Shut up!" she yells. "I've had enough of your provocations!"

"Oh come o…on, were they that ba-" I interrupted by the butt of my pistol painfully hitting my right shoulder. I groan out in pain. If I don't do something quick, I'm gonna die. I glance down to my left leg. She forgot about my knife, perfect.

"Any last words, you bastard?" she whisper in my ear. She's loosened her grip on my neck so I can speak freely now. She really does think that she's won.

"Yes." I begin to say. "You forgot the golden rule."

Immediately after I finish my sentence, my left hand fly's down to the sheath where the knife is and I pull it out. I grab it tightly and ram it behind me, getting it lodged in something. I painful gasp escapes the woman's lips and her hands fall limp to her sides. I turn around and examine the damage. I've lodged the knife in her ribcage. She's staring down at the wound with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open in terror. I see my pistol lying on the ground beside her and I quickly pick it up and point it back at her. She drops to her knees and looks at me.

"You know when I said that I didn't know the golden rule?" I ask her, but she doesn't respond. "Do you?" I ask again, and she nods weakly.

"I lied."

I sneer and I pull the trigger, bullet landing straight in her heart. Her eyes roll back and she instantly falls limp to the floor. Did I just kill someone? Oh Jesus I did. The realization of it instantly hits me. I just killed someone. I holster my gun and begin to shake.

Why did I do that? I could've easily just knocked her out and I'd have been done with it. I raise up my hand and look at it. It's shaking heavily and I ball it into a fist to try and stop it. My heart is racing again and I instantly avert my eyes from the body. I run back to the place where I dropped my helmet and put it back on and sure enough, it works. I can bring up my omni-tool as well.

God, I think I'm going to be sick. I slide down the wall and take a minute to recollect myself in a seated position. This all happened so quickly and if I didn't do what I did I would've been dead, so why the fuck do I feel so bad for doing it? Maybe that woman had a family? Kids? I can't stand to think about that now. I just gotta keep telling myself that I made the right choice, like Benji said. I gotta put myself first.

I groan in frustration, putting my head in my hands. I'm gonna need to talk to Benji about this. Shit, I forgot the knife in the body, Torben's gonna kill me if I don't get it back. I shakily stand up and walk back towards the body. Seeing the crumpled body like that is just making me feel disgusted with myself. I reach the knife, and slowly grab it. If I pull it out quickly, it'll be over with quicker.

I ready myself and with a mental countdown of three seconds, I quickly pull out the knife from the body. I only half register the sickly squelching sound it makes on its way out.

"Rookie?" a voice snaps me out of my trance. It's Torben, and he's holding a large suitcase. That's probably the Flex shipment. Tarvus walks out soon after him and raises his brow plates in surprise.

"First kill?" Torben asks, but this time, there's no hint of disdain in his voice.

"Yes." I reply in a monotone voice.

Torben lets out a hearty laugh. "Good!" he exclaims. "The first is always the one to remember!"

I just stare at Torben through my helmet. I'm clenching my teeth, but it's a good thing he doesn't see me do it. I wouldn't want to ruin his mood.

"You're learning!" Torben adds. "I didn't think you had it in ya'!"

I shake my head and begin to walk back towards the merc checkpoint. "Let's just go." I say flatly. Tarvus nods and quickly catches up to me.

"You did a good job there. That woman has been tailing me for weeks." He says, giving me a small smile. "If she had snuck in there, this deal would've failed."

"Who was she?" I ask quietly. "I want to know who I killed."

"I'll tell you when we get back." Tarvus says and begins walking past me.

I need a drink.

* * *

_And that was chapter 4 of Act I! This chapter had a little bit of everything. Action, interaction, suspense (I hope I didn't fuck up that part all too much) and David's first kill! This chapter was a blast to write and I took my time with this one. I wanted it to be the best it could be, and I hope that I achieved that. Like I said, I hope I did a good job in conveying the atmosphere of the Chalkhos residential area to you guys, it was my first time trying to write something suspenseful. If you have any more feedback, just let me know!  
_

_Like always, I'd love to read your reviews and feedback! Next chapter will focus more on interaction and the aftermath of David's first kill. _

_Until next time!_

_David._


	6. Closure

_Hey everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of Reduced Mass! I can't thank you guys enough for the reviews, reading them in the mornings when I wake up make my day exponentially better. That positive kick in the morning is always nice. Reduced Mass has also surpassed 2000 views! Awesome!_

_Last time around, the chapter ended on a darker note, like the chapter before. First Jermok gets a beating, now David has killed his first person. David's morals are proving to be more useless by the minute. How will he deal with this as time passes? Only time will tell. Seeing as I want to make every story about 50 to 55 chapters, we still have a hell of a long way to go until this series ends. About another 309 chapters to go! So buckle up and enjoy the very, very long ride, as it will be worth it!_

_I have lots of surprises and plot twists planned in the coming months. Now without further ado, let's get to Reduced Mass!_

_PS: If anyone wants to add me on steam (david_728) or on Origin (Trollsberg) to chat or play some games, go ahead!_

* * *

The walk back to the shop was completely silent. I didn't want to talk anyway. Tarvus looked thoughtful the entire way back, while Torben seemed completely satisfied with today's events, seeing as we got the Flex shipment in our hands. Not to mention the fact that Torben was most likely able to crush a few more heads than necessary in that alleyway. It's the only time I've ever seen him grin from ear to ear. How he is able to kill so freely, I don't think I'll ever find that out. I mean, I just killed one person, and I already feel like the entire world is crushing me. The image of the woman imprinted itself in my mind the instant I stood over her and pulled that knife out of her ribcage. Thinking of the squelching sound it made on the way out is enough to make me taste bile in my mouth.

I never thought I could ever feel this disgusted with myself. Sure, I've done stupid shit when I was drunk and when I woke up the next morning, I was disgusted at the fact that I did whatever I did, but I've never truly been disgusted with myself. I don't even want to look at myself in the mirror, but I know I have to. Life isn't going to stop just because I feel like I'm down and out at the moment, especially not on Chalkhos. If I don't 'recover' soon, I'm going to be chewed up, digested, spit out and eaten again. Chalkhos is a moral-less place, and I still haven't learnt my lesson in that department. I don't think Chalkhos has any therapists around, but I think they'd be a waste of money anyway.

The knot in my stomach passed the moment I pulled the trigger. You know, that nervous knot that a lot of people get when shit hits the fan or when something unsettling is in the air. As soon as I shot the woman, it faded. When asking myself if I did the right thing, my best answer is an R. Kelly song. _'Bump and Grind's'_ first sentence: _"My mind is telling me no but my body is telling me yes." _I feel like my gut feeling told me that very instant that I made the right choice but my mind that are filled with the wrong views of this place instantly started blaring the alarms telling me I've made a mistake. I guess that's the only comfort I have right now. I know I made the right choice, otherwise I would've been dead, but how can a right choice feel so wrong? Fuck it, being philosophical about it isn't going to get me anywhere. I'm going to talk to Benji about this and that's that.

First things first though, I'm going to go see Mr. Ming and get myself something to drink. For a very small Chinese restaurant, his selection of alcohol is very big. I've seen every bottle of alcohol imaginable lining the shelf behind the counter, which is fucking great if you ask me. I haven't had whiskey in a damn long time, so I might but a bottle off of him. I hope he has some old brands that I know of in stock, maybe a bottle of _'Crown Royal' _or '_Johnnie Walker'_. I only know of one whiskey brand from this century, and that's TM88 thanks to Mass Effect 3.

* * *

"Stop," a helmeted mercenary says, cutting our departure from the residential district short. "What's in the suitcase?"

Tarvus grunts impatiently, flexing his mandibles. "That's none of your damn business."

The Blue Suns merc's hand tightens around the Avenger Assault rifle that he is pointing at us. "Open the case." He demands rather forcefully, causing Torben's expression to turn into a scowl again.

"Get out of the fucking way, otherwise I'll rip our arms off and shove them so far down your throat you'll be able to tickle your prostate."

My doubts and worries fade for a second and I snort in laughter. If there's one thing positive about Torben, it's his creative insults.

The merc seems offended and points his AR at me threateningly. "What's so funny? I'm the one with the gun here." he asks in a tone bordering on arrogance. I'm in no mood for this shit, I just wanna get drunk and drown out my doubts for the night.

I tap my finger on my holstered pistol. "I don't know if you're blind or not, but its three guns against one," I begin to reply. "So who has the upper hand here?" I counter.

The merc lets out a sharp laugh. "Last time I checked, there were at least thirty Blue Suns contractors here."

I mentally chuckle. The fact that they call themselves contractors is just ridiculous to me when they are clearly merc's.

I look behind the merc and see the rest of the checkpoint bustling with activity, yet no other merc besides this goon has even looked at us. Tarvus seems to pick up on this as well and shakes his head.

"Twenty nine merc's who don't give a shit about us aren't a good backup plan."

The merc lets his gaze wander behind him. Surprisingly enough, Torben doesn't disarm him or take him off guard by knocking him out. The guard turns his attention back to us and puts his hand up to his helmet.

"Captain Ambus, I have three people with an unmarked suitcase here, wanting to leave the residential area."

"Oh fuck fucks sake." I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose with my fingers. I look to my right and see Tarvus's mandibles flexing in anger and Torben nearly turning red with it. If this guy doesn't back off soon, he will not have a good day.

"Yes, two humans and a Turian." The merc responds.

The merc begins to listen to Ambus on the other line and visibly deflates a few seconds later. I think he was just scolded.

"You can go on ahead, but don't try anything funny." He says, building himself up again with arrogance.

I shake my head and begin walking through the checkpoint again. That just about went well for that merc, I would've expe-

I hear a thud behind me and turn around. The merc is on the ground with Torben standing over him. Torben takes a look at Tarvus and I, who are both giving him a surprised look. Torben just scowls at us.

"He tried putting his hands on me," Torben defends. "I warned him about it too."

Tarvus sighs. "Let's just go before anything else happens."

Torben looks down at the guard and spits on his helmet. "That's for good measure you coward." He hisses and starts walking towards us.

Leave it to Torben to have a situation escalate quickly. I know I won't be taking him to party with me anytime soon, because he'll probably end up killing all people that fart in his general direction. I'm glad Benji, Garrett and Tarvus are around, at least they're somewhat sane and down to earth. Mr. Ming is fine too, I'd actually consider him a friend, as long as I pay him to be one.

The walk through the mercenary camp is uneventful. Ambus walked up and asked us what we had done to the guard who was on the ground and unconscious, but another friendly handshake from Tarvus made him look the other way. If you want anything done in this place, all you need is a good amount of credits. I could buy out any lowlife thug on the street and make him to some cruel thing to another person living here. I guess that's how a lot of people operate here on Chalkhos. I could probably blow up a school bus full of orphans in the middle of Market Street in broad daylight and pay every witness a hundred credits and everyone would just go on with their day.

I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight, so I might as well make the most of my night and visit a bar in the entertainment district. Maybe Benji will come along if I ask him. I haven't been drunk since I managed to get myself killed back in 2014, so maybe if I get drunk and get myself killed here, I'll wake back up in a hospital bed in Germany with a nurse telling me that I've woken up out of a coma, but I doubt that that'll happen. I'm stuck here, so I might as well make the most of it and get piss drunk tonight. I hope they have Jägermeister here.

We arrive at the front door of the shop but before I manage to disappear through the door, Tarvus motions for us to stop.

"Great job today," he says, mandibles widening in a satisfied smile. "I'm not going to open the store tomorrow, so that means you two and Benji and Garrett have the day off."

Well, now I definitely have a reason to get drunk. I get to have an undisturbed hangover tomorrow! Wait… Torben might still make me train.

"Torben," I say, making him turn around. "Does that mean that I have a day off from training with you?"

"I welcome any break from training your sorry ass with open arms." He responds flatly.

I chuckle quietly. "I think that's the first thing that we can agree on."

Torben laughs at the remark, which is surprising. I've never heard him laugh before.

"Even if we didn't get the day off, I wouldn't have trained you tomorrow anyway. That would've ruined my good mood."

"That's truly heartwarming." I deadpan, and Torben just shakes his head, smile still evident on his face.

"Now piss off before you ruin my good mood and I'm forced to change my mind."

Alright, I know when I've overstayed my welcome. I'm certain that if I stay around any longer, he will change his mind.

"See you around Torben." I bid him farewell and walk through the door

"Fuck you." he replies firmly just as the door is about to close. Man, Torben and I are such good friends. The door whooshes shut and I take a look around the storeroom. When I first came here, this place looked extremely uncomfortable and cold to me, but now as the time passes, I've begun calling it home. Tarvus is giving me a place to stay with a warm bed and a functional bathroom, so I can consider myself lucky.

I don't want to know how those people in the residential area lived. Being trapped in a gigantic place like that with no daylight must be pretty depressing. I can understand why some people might resort to violence there, as being desperate can make a person do a lot of things. But that still doesn't explain two things: Why the hell are the people from the residential district not allowed to leave and where the fuck did they go when we went through there? I'll just have to ask Tarvus, I wanted to speak to him anyway.

I make my way to Tarvus's office when I spot Benji out of the corner of my eye.

"Tough day?" he asks, looking up from his omni-tool.

"You could say that yeah," I reply with a slight scowl. "I plan on drowning my doubts in copious amounts of booze later today. You're welcome to join."

Benji laughs and claps his hands together. "I can't say no to booze, now can I?" he replies happily. "What time are you planning on leaving?"

I shrug. "As soon as I'm done talking to Tarvus and getting changed, I'll be ready to head out."

"Sounds good to me," he says with a smile on his face. "I'm glad you aren't all that mopey about killing someone."

"And how the hell did you find out about that?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.

"Oh please, I knew from the look on your face as soon as you walked in."

I cross my arms and narrow my eyes. "That's got to be the most obvious lie I've ever had the pleasure of hearing."

Benji raises his arms up in defense. "Ok, ok, you got me. Tarvus told me when I asked him how the mission went."

"That's better."

Benji laughs. "At least you're not gullible."

"If I was gullible, I would've been dead the moment I arrived here." I reply.

I walk towards Tarvus's office. "I'll see you later Benji." I say without looking back and I hear him grunt in affirmation. I'm happy I have someone in this universe who shares my love for booze. A drinking buddy is one of the best kinds of buddies that one could hope for. I'm actually looking forward to tonight, I haven't had a day off in a while. Well, two and a half weeks may not seem like a while but with Torben's training, it felt like an eternity.

I walk up to the door of Tarvus's office, seeing the panel on the door shine a bright red. Hmm, maybe he's busy and doesn't want to be disturbed. But he said he'll talk later, so maybe I just have to knock. I need answers about the woman I killed, maybe they'll provide me with some needed closure on the subject. I press a button on the side of the door and the panel turns green, the glow looking inviting to the eyes. Walking through the door, I see Tarvus look up at me from the desk and signals for me to take a seat.

I accept the offer and take a seat in front of the desk, instantly folding my hands together and putting them on the wooden surface.

"You have some questions for me?" he asks in a friendly tone

"Yes, a few if that's alright with you."

Tarvus nods and puts away the datapad he was reading and looks at me. "By all means, you are a valued member of the team."

I smile, giving him a nod of thanks. I'm not the best at taking compliments without looking like a bumbling idiot, so I did pretty well right now by my standards.

"First question is one you've probably been expecting," I begin. "The woman I killed who was she?"

Tarvus chuckles at the question. "You're right, I was expecting the question." He says and opens one of the drawers of his desk, pulling out a datapad and sliding it over to me. I pick it up and look at it. It's a dossier of the woman I killed. Her name was Taylor Carrington, born 2148 on earth. She lost both her parents in the first contact war and was adopted by her uncle, whom she raised until she disappeared when she was nineteen. She showed up six years later on Omega but disappeared soon after, only to reappear on Chalkhos.

"So I killed a woman with wanderlust who disappeared from earth only to reappear in the Terminus Systems?" I ask with a confused look on my face. "This doesn't add up, why was she after the Flex and you?"

"Keep reading," Tarvus ushers me on. "All the info is in the dossier."

I shrug and my eyes wander down to the datapad in front of me. The next few paragraphs are about her apparent mission of tracking down Tarvus and thus, tracking down the improved Flex that was in the works. The Flex that Tarvus got his hands on. Taylor seemed to have the wrong idea about Chalkhos and began asking questions about Tarvus and the Flex openly and among those people she asked was Mr. Ming. I smile after reading that part of the dossier. Mr. Ming seems to always get lucky with big info like this, probably because no one expects a small Chinese man to be an informant for one of Chalkhos' largest merchants.

Tarvus was promptly informed and gave Mr. Ming the objective of finding out about the woman, which he did. Rather well I must say, he's got almost all of her personal info written down on this datapad. I'll have to ask him how he did it, because this is damn impressive. I keep reading until one sentence hits me like a ton of bricks.

_"__Upon further investigation, I've managed to find out that Ms. Carrington joined the pro human organization CERBERUS in the year 2169 and started her training as one of their many spies. Her first assignment after finishing was to investigate a lead on the construction of an improved strand of the drug 'Conflexicene' and to secure it for the organization. The improved strand was to be laced with a toxin called 'Trilexicol-B' which is only deadly to the Turian species.'_

I keep reading in astonishment. I killed a Cerberus operative? Now there's something that I didn't expect to read, and to be honest, it's making me feel a lot better now because I stopped a plot to mass murder Turians.

I raise my eyebrows and look back up at Tarvus. "I didn't expect that," I muse. "Typical Cerberus, they must hold a grudge against the Turians because of the first contact war."

Tarvus nods and I hand him back the datapad. "I don't know a whole lot about Cerberus, but I can smell a terrorist organization when I see one." He says, mandibles flexing in a scowl.

I knew that towards the war with the reapers and the entire collector fiasco Cerberus seemed to have displaced their morals, but I didn't expect them to be this evil in a sneaky way this early. I thought they started out as an organization that wanted to help humanity cement its position in the traverse, but this takes me completely by surprise.

"Well, I guess I did the right thing when I killed her then." I state rather flatly. I don't want to seem happy about killing the woman or too depressed. Keeping it neutral will not give Tarvus a reason to question any one of my possible reactions.

Tarvus's mandibles widen in another smile. "You did exactly the right thing. To be honest, I expected you to let her escape or just knock her out."

"Oh?" I ask.

"Yes, Torben told me that you had some problems, that your morals were getting in the way." He responds thoughtfully. "I'm glad you left that behind you."

I furrow my brows. I didn't actually leave it behind me at all. But for some reason, the fact that I killed the woman only bothers me half as much as it did before. Sure, I could've let her walk, but that would mean that she'd be back again at some point, continuing to track down Tarvus and the Flex. It's exactly like Benji told me it would be. If you don't kill someone on Chalkhos, they'll be back. Just like with the Batarian he didn't kill in the bar two years ago, he was back with a vengeance.

Furthermore, if she'd have gotten her hands on the Flex and brought it to Cerberus, we'd have a lot of dead Turian's laying around in the traverse. My mind is finally relenting to the consensus that I did the right thing.

"I'm glad as well." I say, not sounding entirely convinced in what I just said.

Silence fills the room for a few seconds, before I decide to break it.

"Did she have any children?" I burst out, smashing the silence forcefully.

Tarvus shrugs. "Not that I know of. Mr. Ming might know."

I let out a sharp breath. Let's hope she doesn't have a child, because then I'd be even more disgusted with myself than before.

I think I've finally learned the lesson that Benji has tried to teach me. If I think about what the people are ready to do to me on Chalkhos if I give them a chance, then I'll have an easier time putting myself first and killing them. I know it sounds twisted but the fact that the Cerberus operative was about to kill me and I acted on instinct proves that point.

I could've shot her when I found her and made her uncloak, but I didn't and she picked up on that weakness and used it to her advantage. This doesn't mean that I'll be okay with killing people, not by a long shot. It means that I have a reason to justify my killing here on Chalkhos, and that reason is self-preservation. Humans are set out to be selfish creatures, and on Chalkhos that's what it takes to survive.

My mind is finally switching over from the mindset of _'selflessness' _to _'selfishness'_. As much as I hate to admit it, Chalkhos is changing me slowly but steadily. Like I said, I still don't want to kill people but if I have to and it means that it will save me in the long run, I will. Heh, easier said than done I guess, if I actually will only time can tell, but let's hope that I can get over this.

"Did you have any more questions?"

Tarvus snaps me out of my thoughts and I turn my attention back to him.

"Yeah…" I ponder for a second before I remember what I wanted to ask. "Why is no one living in the residential area allowed to leave it?"

"Bad for business." Comes the instant reply from Tarvus.

"Bad for business?"

"Yes."

I narrow my eyes, not entirely convinced that that is the actutal reason. "Explain" I say whilst folding my arms.

"You see, eighty percent of the population of Chalkhos is poor, can't even afford good clothes. Most of them live in the countryside, getting by working the Flex fields or just being stomped on by the higher up crime lords taking advantage of them. About twenty years ago, Chalkhos still had a form of government, who added to Aerinus by building the residential area for the poor farmers."

Tarvus looks at me to see if I'm following. I nod and he continues speaking.

"Once the arm was finished, people piled into it, wanting to escape the oppressive countryside. What the government didn't think of though is any way of providing four hundred thousand jobs for the people living in the arm, and the little money they had earned was quickly spent and without being able to work in the country, they were quickly broke. Crime started taking the upper hand quickly and was on the brink of spreading to the rest of Aerinus, until the Blue Suns came in and sealed it off."

Okay, I didn't think that Chalkhos was ever capable of having a government run it.

"That doesn't explain how it's bad for business." I interject.

"I'll summarize for you," Tarvus says. "The people living in the residential area have no money, and that means they can't buy anything here. Bad for business. And plus, they'd just overcrowd the rest of the station."

Wow, I was expecting something more complex than this. But it's just the fact that they're poor that they're not allowed in the station? This is some kind of ancient caste system implemented here, and if you ask me, that's really quite weird.

"Makes sense," I say and lean back in the chair. "Thank you for the insight Tarvus."

"Anytime, if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask." He says happily. I get up and walk out of the office. Chalkhos is getting more and more interesting as time goes by, and it turns out that it's got a system of how things run. It isn't just a lawless place where people can do as they wish. I guess it's the same with almost every other Terminus world though. Crime lords take over and dictate the everyday lives of the common folk, who are forced into either becoming slaves or thugs for said crime lords. I wonder if Tarvus is employed by some big crime lord, I wouldn't be surprised if he was.

I walk into the sleeping room and open my locker, taking out my washed out pair of jeans, my black hoodie and my boots. I'm going for the casual look, seeing as I don't want to go out in my armor. It takes some time to get out of the armor but once it's off, I just throw on my clothes and fix my hair quickly. Mr. Ming got his hands on some hair wax for me that's not Varren lard, and I'm eternally thankful for him for that.

After about ten minutes of getting myself ready, I'm done and I walk out to the front of the store. I took a few extra minutes admiring my facial hair, which has transformed itself into the definition of a five o'clock shadow. I'm quite proud of myself in that regard, and I'm going to refuse shaving it off for the next few decades.

I check the time on my omni-tool. I messaged Benji to meet me here about fifteen minutes ago, and he said he'd be ready in twenty. Oh well, I'll just have to pass the time until he arrives in some productive way, and that doesn't mean twiddling my thumbs.

Oh, I know! I'll call up Mr. Ming! I open my contact list and click on Ming's name and within a few seconds, his face appears and smiles at me.

"My favorite customer! How can I help you on this fine day?"

I return the smile. "Good to see you Mr. Ming, I had some questions about the Cerberus operative you were tailing."

Mr. Ming's eyes light up in surprise. "Did Tarvus tell you about her?" he asks, surprise evident in his voice.

"Yeah, and I killed her." I say dryly, causing Ming's face to light up.

"That is great news! What did you want to know about her?"

"Did she have children?" I ask, my voice slightly wavering at the word children.

Ming contemplates my question for a few seconds. "Was it your first kill?" he asks curiously.

"Yes."

"I'm not sure if she does, but I'll check and message you with an answer when I have it." He replies reassuringly. "Don't worry about your first kill, everyone's been through what you've gone through."

"Thank you Mr. Ming," I say solemnly. "I will talk to you soon."

Mr. Ming bows and cuts the feed.

"Feeling guilty?" a voice asks from behind me and I swivel around in shock to see Benji standing in front of me.

"God damn, don't scare me like that," I puff out. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Benji laughs. "That was my intention."

"Let's just go," I say while rolling my eyes. "I don't want to reach the bar and not get a seat."

"Fine by me, but if we plan on getting drunk today, we gotta start before actually reaching the bar!" Benji says and pulls two small, two hundred milliliter bottles of Jack Daniels out of his pocket and throws one to me. "Warm up round." He adds happily.

"Now you're talkin'!" I exclaim and unscrew the cap and take a long sip. While I'm not the biggest bourbon fan, Jack Daniels is still enjoyable to drink.

"I'm liking you more and more Benji." I say as we begin walking towards the bar, causing Benji to laugh.

"The feeling is mutual," He says. "Haven't been out drinking in ages, and doing it with someone who loves drinking as much as I do is a welcome change."

"Garrett doesn't drink?"

Benji shakes his head. "Not that much, no. He's great company to have at a bar, but after a few beers, he doesn't want any more."

"Is he a lightweight?" I joke.

"No, he just wants to keep a clear head on Chalkhos, especially since the night I got my first kill." He responds. "I keep telling him to lighten up, but he's the type that won't budge from his views, you know?"

I nod. "Oh trust me, I know what you're talking about. And as long as you leave with a weapon, most people won't mess with you."

Benji gives me a nod of affirmation. "Exactly. I don't leave home without my gun." He takes a look at where my gun would be and raises his eyebrows. "Did you bring any weapon?"

I pat down on the left side of my hip. "Knife. It's more inconspicuous than a gun, and people won't know right away if I'm carrying a weapon." I explain.

"Are you looking for trouble?" Benji asks in a surprised manner.

I laugh at his expression. "I go looking for trouble when I'm drunk."

"Another thing we have in common then." Benji quips, taking another sip from his bottle. I promptly do the same.

"So, where're we headed tonight?" Benji asks after wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"I found a nice bar in the entertainment district, it's an Irish pub."

"You mean the one run by the Turian? The one who doesn't have a clue about Irish culture?"

"Yep, that's the one. It looked pretty good to me."

Benji shakes his head. "Believe me, it's not. I've been there before."

"Alright, what do you suggest then?" I ask a little disappointedly. I at least thought it looked like a good place to sit.

"I know just the place." Benji says with a very satisfied smile on his face.

* * *

Alright, I have to admit, I completely missed this place when I first walked down the entertainment district. To be fair, it's a tiny shop squeezed in between two huge nightclubs but it doesn't even have a sign above the entrance. Once inside, I was surprised at how good it looked inside. It was an actual Irish pub run by an Irish human, which is a lot better than an Irish pub run by a Turian. We managed to find a booth close to the bar and take a seat. To my surprise, Irish music is playing over the sound system and by the looks of the stage I see at the far end of the bar, live performances are held here as well.

A Turian waiter walks up to us almost instantly and takes out a datapad.

"What'll it be guys?" he asks in a friendly tone, mandibles widening in a smile.

I take a look at Benji, who signals me to order. I smile at him and give him a nod of thanks. This is going to be fun.

"Two Irish coffee's, a bottle of Jameson and a pitcher of Kilkenny please." I respond.

The Turian raises his brow plates and his mandibles twitch in surprise. "You sure? I've heard humans can't really hold their own when it comes to drinking." He says.

"Yes. I am sure." I reaffirm. "Now, is there anything good to eat?"

"Let me get you the drinks first, then I'll give you the menu." He says and hurries off behind the bar.

Benji looks at me and raises an eyebrow. "You sure are looking to get drunk, aren't you?"

I nod. "Didn't you have the same plan as well? Or are you backing out?" I ask teasingly.

Benji waves a hand through the air. "Bah, you bet your ass I'm not backing out rookie. No one beats me at getting drunk!"

I narrow my eyes and give Benji a determined expression. "We'll see about that."

The Turian arrives with the large tray of drinks. "Alright boys, good luck with this. If you can still stand after this, I'll pay for the bottle of Jameson."

"Challenge accepted my good friend." I say.

The Turian puts the tray on the table and we take our copious amounts of alcohol off of it. Two glasses, one for the beer, the other for the whiskey. The Turian hands us the menu and takes out his datapad again.

"What'll it be?"

I'm about to speak up before Benji signals me to stop.

"I'll take over this," he smiles at me, before turning back to the waiter. "Two Shepherd's Pie's."

"Alright, you guys want anything to mix with your Whiskey?" the Turian asks as he writes down the rest of the order.

"No thank you, I don't mix my whiskey." I respond kindly. I look to Benji, who seems to agree with me wholeheartedly.

"Alright, I'll be right back with your food." The Turian says curtly and walks away. I turn my attention back to Benji, who's already poured me a glass of Whiskey and a pint of beer.

"Here's to hell. That our stay there be as fun as our way there." I say

I pick up my pint glass and raise it up for Benji to clink, which he promptly does.

"I've gotta remember that one." Benji says and takes a large sip from his pint glass. I quickly follow suit and take a large sip as well. God, it's been ages since I've drank a real good beer. Sure, Ming's Chinese beer is fine but it doesn't compare to this. My mind quickly wanders back to Germany and the amount of beer we have there.

The beer that 'I grew up with' was the beer of Hanover: Herrenhäuser. It was the only beer left in the city that was privately brewed and it was the go-to beer for any party or get together. If you didn't drink _"Herri"_, you weren't a true resident of Hanover. I miss the beer, and I find myself missing Hanover from time to time. I'll have to go visit when I get off this rock.

"So, tell me about your first kill." Benji says bluntly, ripping me out of my thoughts.

"She was a Cerberus operative," I begin to explain. "Was tailing Tarvus for a few months and tried to interrupt the deal as it was going down."

Benji whistles in amazement. "Didn't expect you to be able to gun down a Cerberus operative to be frank with you."

"Trust me, I didn't think I'd be able either." I say dryly.

"And how do you feel about it?" Benji asks curiously, putting down his glass of Jameson that he took a sip from.

"Better about it now that I talked to Tarvus about it. At first I was freaking out about it, feeling guilty, but now that I examine the situation again, I firmly believe that I made the right choice," I begin to reply. "Otherwise I'd be dead."

Benji leans over the table and slaps me on the shoulder.

"Now you're thinking like a true Chalkhosan!" he exclaims happily. "Putting yourself first is the first step of surviving this place."

"I'm slowly beginning to learn that lesson, the fast and hard way working this job." I laugh.

"Learning the hard way is usually the best way of learning, gives you little time to think and more time to act."

I nod and take a sip of my glass of Jameson. Man, I've missed drinking a proper whiskey.

"I'm just looking forward to what this job still has in store for me."

"Trust me, I've seen a lot of shit, but I haven't seen it all yet. Chalkhos is a fucking goldmine of new situations."

"I can imagine." I say. "It'll be an interesting remaining five and a half months for sure."

"You're not going to be staying longer?" Benji asks a little surprised.

I chuckle. "Only time will tell, I have to survive the next five and a half months first."

Benji gives me a reassuring smile. "Trust me, with the mindset you're developing, you'll be fine."

"Let's hope." I say and pick up my cup of Irish coffee. I'm about to take a sip when Benji interrupts me.

"First one to down the cup in one go wins."

"Oh you are so on."

Benji and I begin chugging the rather large cup of Irish coffee at the same time. Once I'm done, I slam down the cup on the table and Benji does the same.

"Tie." I state, and Benji nods.

"Guess we'll just have to go to round to." He quips. I begin to grin as I call over the waiter and order two more coffees. He takes the order and walks away again.

"I think he thinks we're crazy." Benji says in a mock whisper.

"I think he does," I join in. "He hasn't seen the half of it though."

I pick up my cup and hold it up in front of me again.

"On three."

* * *

The rest of the long day goes along at about the same pace. We down about two more Irish coffee's and go through one more pitcher of beer. The bottle of Jameson met its end at the end when we were already drunk. Drunk is understating it, we were piss drunk. Surprisingly enough though, we managed to keep a conversation going without slurring too badly. Albeit the conversation was a few notches slower in the pace department.

We met around ten in the morning outside of the store, seeing as the drug deal went on at about six thirty in the morning and after we finished everything up, it was around nine. We decided to call it a 'night' at around seven in the evening and paid for our things aside from the bottle of Jameson that the Turian waiter reluctantly paid for, considering that he lost the bet of us still being able to stand.

Benji and I were shaky on our feet and had to pause regularly on the way back to the store because sudden bouts of dizziness would hit us at different intervals. I'm not going to enjoy the hangover my body has planned for me tomorrow. At least I have a day off to recuperate before Torben gets to torture me again.

The walk to the entertainment district that would usually take about twenty minutes is now beginning to look a lot longer. I can't say I regret it though, it was the best night I've since landing in this time, and I hope Benji is up to do it again at some point. It's a nice change of pace for once, not sweating buckets seven hours a day and being too tired to do anything once I get back to the shop.

"Come ohn, lets tlake this shortcut." Benji slurs and points towards an alleyway to right of him.

If I wasn't drunk, I'd have called this a bad idea, a terrible one even, but I just want to get to my bed as quickly as possible.

"Ok." I say and begin to slowly follow Benji into the alley. It's a pretty narrow pathway that cuts past the evening bustle of the central hub, which can harbor gigantic crowds that you have to fight your way through, especially in the evening.

I have to really concentrate on where I'm going right now, otherwise I begin to just walk into things. I have a unique talent when I'm drunk, and that's not watching where I'm going. I walked into people rather forcefully back in 2014 all the time and it's even ended in fights a few times. Benji stops a few meters in front of me and puts both of his hands on the wall of the alley. I think he's going to throw up, but my head can't really think straight. The feeling of having your head in the clouds when drunk is the first thing I get when drinking too much. It feels like my frontal lobe is made of Jell-O and being squished against the front of my skull. It feels pretty cool to certain extent, until it becomes overwhelmingly annoying.

"I just need a few minutes of rest." Benji states rather slowly, being careful not to slur any words coming out of his mouth.

"Take your time." I reply and put my right arm on the wall for balance.

"Thlanks for the nighty," Benji puffs out. "We shod do this more oftern."

I nod and take a look around at my surroundings. This place seems off to me for some reason. There's only two ways to enter the alley and it seems like the perfect place for an ambush, which means that I don't want to stay here longer than I have to.

I'm about to tap Benji on the shoulder to usher him on but he begins to retch and a few seconds later, his stomach contents line the floor below him. I look away and bite down on my right cheek. I don't lie watching other people throw up, because it makes me want to throw up.

"Come on Benji, let's go." I say whilst still looking away, but he's not moving. He's still in his bent over position, staring down at the ground.

"I lost." Benji mutters quietly to himself. "Impossibru."

I burst out laughing at the last word he says. I know he didn't deliberately try to talk in a really badly done, stereotypical Chinese accent, but the word impossible coupled together with him breathing out at the end just sounding exactly like someone doing a bad impersonation.

I slide down the wall opposite from Benji and all my worries about the alley seem to fade away. Benji sits down leaning against the wall as well, but he manages to sit right down in his own vomit, making me giggle like a little kid who just heard the word 'penis' for the first time all the more.

Benji soon joins in on the laughing as well, and it's like someone just opened the floodgates. I can't seem to stop myself from laughing at the absurdity of this situation and the stories both of us told that my mind is now constantly drifting back to. I haven't laughed to I cried in a damn long time, and it feels incredible. Chalkhos hasn't given me a single reason to laugh in the two and a half weeks that I've been here so this feels like therapy to me.

I can feel my stomach starting to hurt and I look over to Benji, who's curled up in a ball on the ground holding his stomach as well, laughing at nothing in particular. God, we must seem like absolute idiots right now, but I'm drunk so I don't care.

"Benji," I manage to spurt out through the pauses in my laughing fit. "We're gonna need to go home now."

Benji gives a snort of confirmation and slowly gets up off the ground. I do the same and we begin to walk out of the alley. This truly was a great ni-

We're suddenly stopped dead in our tracks by a Turian, who's blocking our way out of the alleyway, slowly walking towards Benji and I which makes us cautiously back up.

"Human," he says in a flanging voice.

"I'm looking for my brother, have you seen him?"

My heart falls straight into my stomach as I hear the Turian speak. I look down at his left leg and my dropped heart stops beating. He's missing a left spur.

Oh my god. It's the Turian I beat in a fist fight. I rub my eyes and look at his mandibles and sure enough, he's missing a little piece of his upper one. I look to Benji, who seems to have caught on that this was the Turian that I mugged.

I'm about to turn around when a cold piece of metal presses into the back of my neck.

"Oh, he has seen me before. I'm sure he remembers me." A flanging voice sneers from behind me.

A sudden knot in my stomach forms the hairs of my neck stand on end.

It's the Turian I insulted in the hospital.

* * *

_Cliffhanger! And a suspenseful one at that! David and Benji have gotten themselves into a fair bit of trouble and they're going to have to deal with it head on, even if they're piss drunk. This chapter, like I said, is more of an interaction chapter, having David reflect on the events that transpired in the residential area. Also, some needed character interaction and a fun night for David, seeing as everything can't be depressing all the time for him. But his fun time is cut short when reality comes back to bite him in the ass._

_What will happen, tune in next chapter! Like I always say, leave a review! Any feedback is welcomed with open arms!_

_See you next chapter._

_Cheers!_

_David_


	7. Names

_Hey everyone! Back again with a new chapter of Reduced Mass! Last time around, David and Benji hit the entertainment district to use their free time productively, only to get piss drunk at an Irish pub. Everything seemed to go well, until David met two old friends he made early on in his new life on Chalkhos, two racist Turian's to be exact. We left off right at the beginning of the confrontation and now we get to see what happens between the two parties._

_I'd like to thank everyone that's reviewed my SI this far, I greatly appreciate it and your feedback is keeping me going! I'm extremely happy to be writing this SI and I'm also extremely happy that you guys are enjoying it as well. This chapter will be more of a dark chapter and in chapter 8, we'll have another time jump, but I'm not sure how far ahead I'll jump yet. We're also almost halfway through act one, which means at the end of it, there'll be a long finale chapter, with about 12 to 15k words. This will be the case for every act finale of every story in the installment. What exactly will happen? Only time will tell._

_Now without further ado, let's get right back into the action!_

* * *

My breathing is becoming faster by the second, and I can feel myself begin to shake, with the feeling travelling from my abdomen slowly to my limbs. Seconds tick by as if they were hours and it seems like the air has come to a complete standstill. I block out every sound of the street behind the Turian in front of me and focus completely on my breathing. I fucked up, I fucked up so badly. I'm the one who said I'm finally understanding what the golden rule of Chalkhos is about and actually lectured the Cerberus operative about it, and here I am with a Turian in front of me that I should have killed. Well, it's come back to bite me in the ass now, hasn't it? It's the exact thing Benji warned me about, and I listened at a point in time where it's far too late to change any mistake I made.

This might very well be it for me to be honest, I don't see a way out of this situation. Fighting back won't do, seeing as Benji and I are both extremely drunk. A drunk man fighting a sober man always ends in the sober man winning. Quicker reflexes and movements decide fights, and we're both not up to par with that. I do have the kukri Torben gave me but again, I'd be too slow in pulling it out of the sheath and doing anything with it.

"Long time no see, human," the Turian from the hospital spits with even more hate than before. "I think we have a lot of catching up to do."

"So do we," the other Turian sneers, pulling out the knife he threatened me with a few days ago.

I glance over to Benji, who's taking periodic peeks at the pistol holstered on his right leg. The gun of the Turian behind me is still pressing into my neck, so Benji might have a chance if he's quick enough. Maybe if I distract them, they'll take their attention off of Benji.

"Yeah, that we do," I reply somewhat casually. "That reminds me, how was your recovery at the hospital…?" I pause, waiting for him to maybe tell me his name.

I don't get the name, but a pistol whip to the shoulder gets me to shut up. I fall to the ground and grunt in pain. I don't have the strength to get up right and another wave of dizziness hits me, causing me to groan. Alright, I guess talking to them wasn't the best of ideas.

The Turian in front of us bends down holding the knife to my throat. "We are going to have so much fun, the three of us," he whispers, causing me to shudder. Did he say three?

"There's four of us," I say weakly.

The Turian chuckles. "We only want you."

"Then let him go." I say with a little more power than before.

"As you wish." The Turian with the gun says and he stops aiming at me. In an instant he turns to Benji and aims at his back. Before I can warn him about it, he pulls the trigger and Benji's eyes grow wide, looking down at the gaping hole on the right side of his chest. It takes only a few seconds for his shirt to begin turning red and he crumples to the floor. My breathing stops as I take a look at Benji's crumpled body lying in my field of view. Oh my god, they shot Benji. My mind finally processes the information and a small fire of anger begins to form in my stomach. I begin fighting down tears as both the Turian's focus their attention on Benji.

"What do we do with this one?" one of the Turian's asks while looking down at him.

"Sell him to one of Ukathan's merchants, I heard he grinds up any body sold to him and makes them into pies."

"That's just a rumor, Velor," the other snaps back at him.

Alright, so the one with a missing spurs name is Velor. I'll remember that name.

"Just feed them to our Varren then," Velor says, putting his talons up.

"Alright, you carry this guy, I'll carry our friend over here."

Fuck I have to come up with something quick before their attention turns back to me. Pulling my kukri won't work, I need something that I can at least incapacitate one of them with from a distance. I look over to Benji's gun on the ground. Nope, that's too far away, if only I had something. I quickly open my omni-tool while both of the Turian's are looking away. Messaging Tarvus or Torben would take way too long, and they'd not get here in time anyway. Same with Garrett.

I let out a small sigh of frustration as I look through my omni-tool. I have to have something here, there's gotta be something of use here. The tears are beginning to well up in my eyes, not just of fear, but of frustration as well. I can't just lay here while the Turian's are talking about getting rid of Benji like that. As quick as he'd kill me if he was told to, Benji is still a friend and if I was back in Germany, I'd have defended him better than this. It's my fault that he's probably dead, and I'm next if I don't do anything. Only difference will be my death, it'll be more drawn out than Benji's.

I look over to Benji's body and something seems off to me. He's staring right at me, but with determined eyes. I mouth out the word alive to Benji and after a few seconds, he blinks, confirming that he's still alive. I slowly let out a sigh of relief and begin to search through my omni-tool again, but I still can't find anything via-

Oh hold on a second. I open of the files Benji sent me and download it again, since I deleted it a few days back, seeing as I didn't need it. Even the second long download time seems like it's taking years to complete and I brace myself for the attention of the two Turian's. When a download finishes, I'm always greeted by a confirmation ping, and it's loud enough for them to hear it. At nine-eight percent completion of the download, I forcefully shut my eyes and clench my teeth, awaiting a kick to the face from one of the Turian's or a talon to the stomach. The Turian's are still bickering about something when the completion reaches ninety-nine percent. In a few seconds, this is going to be the end of me, I just know it. I mentally count down to my death.

_Three._

_Two._

_One._

_'__Ping'_

I rip my eyes open and take a look in front of me. Nothing's happened, they didn't notice. I slowly sigh in relief again as I load up the app. This might not work, but it might just kill one of them, which is enough to shake things up a bit, maybe even retaliate. I bind the app to my thumb key of the omni-tool and begin to slowly get up onto my knees. The Turian's are in a heated argument about something, but I block their voices out. If this works, I'm going to be surprised myself. I slowly get onto my shaky legs and stand up somewhat straight, the dizziness subsiding a little as the adrenaline shooting through my body as made me a little more sober than I was before.

Both of them have their backs to me, which tells me that they're inexperienced at this, one should've been watching me the entire time, while the other tends to Benji but hey, I'm not complaining. Now there's two ways I can do this. Either I get their attention like a badass would and then kill one of them, or I surprise both of them by not saying a word. I stand up a little straighter and take a deep breath. I don't know if this'll work, so I'm going to have to accept that there's a chance I'll die, but doing that without a fight wouldn't seem like me. I look down one more time to Benji, who's giving me the faintest hint of a smile and I tell him with hand signals to close his eyes, which he promptly does.

I hold out my hand, palm facing towards the Turian with the gun. I bring up my omni-tool one more time and load up the app by pressing the thumb key. I let out the breath I was holding and press the button releasing the projectile.

Incinerate.

I release the high explosive plasma round from my omni-tool and it sails towards the Turian's back, impacting with a thud and exploding. I see Benji roll himself towards the wall and he covers his face in protection. The flames are on the Turian instantly and it takes about two seconds for him to register that he's on fire, after which he begins to scream in agony. Velor's mouth hangs agape as he watches his brother being burnt alive by searing hot plasma and flames. He begins running around frantically trying to get the fire out, with Velor burning his talons trying to put his jacket over him. I see Benji uncover his eyes and he un-holsters his pistol, aiming quickly and putting a hot in the burning Turian's leg, then in Velor's. Velor falls to the ground, sliding down the wall as he grunts in pain. The burning Turian on the other hand flops to the ground straight in the middle of the alleyway a few meters away from us, still rolling and screaming in pain.

His plates are beginning to turn black and his leathery skin is slowly getting seared off layer by layer. I watch him burn for a few seconds, not batting an eyelash at what is before me. I shake my head and walk over to Benji, who's holstered his gun again but is still on the ground, blood slowly flowing from his wound.

"Benji," I say as I crouch down beside him. "I thought you were dead!"

He lets out a laugh, but it sounds more like a cough. "I've seen better days, but a punctured lung isn't fun."

I look at him and I notice that as he talks, his saliva is blood red. This isn't good.

"We need to get you to Garrett." I say worriedly as I apply some pressure to Benji's wound.

"I'll call him, you deal with our friend over there." He huffs out and brings up his omni-tool.

I look over to the burning Turian and see that he's stopped moving, body almost completely charred by the incinerate I launched at him. I'm expecting to feel guilty about this any second, but I surprisingly don't. I only sneer as I look over to the body and then turn my attention back to Velor, who's slumped against the wall, holding the leg with a bullet in it.

I look to my left, which is the opening to the beginning of Market Street and see a few people looking into the alley with curious eyes. I'm going to have to move Velor somewhere more secluded.

"Hi my friend," I smile at Velor. "How's the leg?"

"Fuck you, you monster," he spits, still holding his leg.

I frown at him. "Now that's not a very nice thing to say, now is it?"

"Just kill me and get it over with," he yells at me and looks defiantly into my eyes.

I smile again. "You and I both know that that's not going to happen. We're going to have a lengthy conversation, the both of us are, and you are going to answer all the questions I have for you like a good boy."

The Turian spits at me and it lands directly in my face. I quickly wipe it off to try and avoid any dextro-levo reaction to take place. I already know that I have to kill him, otherwise he'll be back a third time, and even angrier than before. I sigh mentally. This place is going to drive me insane.

"Now, now Velor, that wasn't very nice of you." I say in a forced friendly tone. "Apologize."

The Turian growls and widens his mandibles in a scowl. "Fuck. You."

I pull out the kukri from my sheath and point it at him. "Apologize." I repeat

"Fuck. You."

I look down at Velor's leg that's missing a spur, which is outstretched in front of me. "You don't want to lose any more extremities, don't you?" I ask.

"Bullshit, you're too much of a coward to do that." He sneers, causing me to chuckle mirthlessly.

"We'll see soon enough." I wink at him and stand back up, looking back to Benji. "You doing alright?"

Benji gives me a thumbs up. "Garrett and Torben will be here in a few seconds by my estimates."

"Why Torben?" I ask, giving Benji a confused look.

"He wants to talk to you."

I raise my eyebrows. "Huh, I wonder why." I say quietly to myself, and just as I'm about to turn my attention back to Velor, Garrett and Torben walk around the corner. Garrett gives me a quick nod of acknowledgement and goes straight to Benji with what seems to be a first aid kit. I look over to Torben, who's walking towards me slowly. He doesn't look that pleased.

"Look Torben, I can explain," I begin to say, but I'm interrupted by him giving me a rather forceful slap on the back.

"I just wanted to see if it's true what Benji said, and by the looks of it, he did tell the truth."

"And that means?" I ask.

"It means you did a good job, somewhat. You should've killed the fucker when you had the chance the first time, otherwise this wouldn't have happened." He scowls at me.

"I didn't think he would." I defend somewhat half-heartedly. He's right, I should've killed him when I had the chance.

"Well use your fucking head next time rookie. Grudges are permanent and deadly on Chalkhos."

"I know that now." I say quietly, looking over to Velor, who's trying to slide away unnoticed.

I break off the conversation with Torben and walk over to Velor. He's crawling away slowly on his knees and I pull my knife.

"You're not off the hook yet." I jeer and slam my knife into his left lower thigh. He screams out in pain and falls to the floor again. "Stay put or it gets worse."

He doesn't respond, but I think he got the point. I pull the knife out of his thigh and he screams in pain again, which I willfully ignore by turning my attention to Torben, who's walked up behind me.

"This the one that mugged you?" he asks flatly.

"Yeah."

"You gonna kill him or let him go?"

"I need to... ask him some questions first." I reply while smiling at Velor. Torben seems to have caught on and slaps me on the shoulder again.

"You're learning!" he laughs. "You need an interrogation room?"

I look at Torben and nod.

"I'll get one ready, I'll message you when it's done."

And with that, he leaves back towards the shop. This entire fiasco has opened my eyes a little more. I almost paid the price for not following Chalkhos's first rule and today I learned how important following that rule really is. Me not following the rule could've gotten Benji and I killed just now. As much as I hate to admit it, killing Velor is the only way that he'll stop coming after me. I mean, I tried to scare him off after the fight by threatening him, but we now see how well that went. My head is just a merry go round right now, filled with doubts. I don't like that I'm slowly becoming part of this place. I've only been here two weeks and already I'm starting to not mind violence that much. I walk by it all the time. Muggings, hazing's and all that stuff seems like nothing to me now after I've killed these two people. They get off easy now that I think about it.

I just hope not killing Jermok was a good idea. I wonder what he's doing right now anyway, probably getting ready to meet the Batarian's later next week, if not earlier. God damn, after all this commotion, I totally forgot that I was drunk, and it's coming back now, slowly but surely.

"Garrett, is Benji ok?" I ask over my shoulder, still staring at Velor.

"He'll be fine, the bullet went through the right side of his ribcage, missing the heart completely. I'll need to perform actual surgery when we're back at the shop, but that shouldn't be a problem. He's stable enough to walk back on his own."

I nod. "Then I'll need your help with this guy over here, Torben's setting up an interrogation room for me. I need to ask our buddy here some questions."

Garrett helps Benji up and makes sure that he's steady enough to walk before moving over to Velor with me. I grab Velor by the abdomen and flip him on his back.

"See you later, friend." I smile and send my boot sailing into his face, effectively knocking him out.

"Damn kid, you're beginning to change." He says as we begin picking Velor up by the shoulders.

"Adapt or die." I state and we begin walking towards the shop, Velor slumped in between us.

"I just didn't think you'd be open to killing someone this quickly, you've only been doing proper jobs for four days."

"I guess I'm a somewhat quick learner," I quip. "I'm still not okay with the entire thing, but I know I have to do it otherwise I die."

"Good man." Garrett laughs.

What the hell is happening to me? I should be freaking out right about now, that I killed another person. How is this different from the Cerberus operative? And what about the upcoming death of Velor? I need some answers, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get them out of him non-violently. God, this is too much to wrap my head around, way too much. Maybe I'm slowly getting desensitized to all of this, which to be honest will help me in the long run. Shepard won't just be killing Geth, lots of humans and other sentient beings will lose their lives thanks to him or her, whatever gender Shepard is. What irks me the most is the fact that I just let Turian burn to death without even considering putting him out of his misery. I should at least be freaking out about that image, but I'm not. Ugh, this is just too much.

"Garrett?" I break the silence. "How did you get desensitized to all this killing?"

Garrett chuckles. "Simple, but I'm pretty sure Benji's told you this before. Just adopt a 'me or him' mentality and after it's burned itself into your mind and with a little help from situations like this, you'll have no problems killing someone in the end.

"Sounds simple enough," I joke. "I still don't like it though."

"Trust me, I still don't like killing people. Only if I have to, I will." He replies.

"Good principle to live by," I agree thoughtfully. "I'm not one to go around slaughtering innocent people."

"As brutal as this job looks, we have principles and some form of morals. The thugs on this planet don't, and they kill whatever they can. Discipline and order is what sets us apart from them."

I never thought of it that way to be honest, but now that I do, it makes a lot more sense. My work has rules, but they're not written down anywhere. While you need violence to get things done here, Tarvus and the rest do it when they have to. For themselves or for the company, as long as its violence in some form of preservation, we're allowed to do it. I'm pretty sure that Tarvus doesn't want undisciplined goons working for him. If he did, I don't think he'd be one of Chalkhos's top merchants.

I think I'm slowly coming to terms with what I have to do here in order to survive.

* * *

Turns out Tarvus had a basement, and while Garrett and Tarvus started operating on Benji, Torben and I moved Velor into the basement. There's one really dingy looking room with nothing in it. It looks like it came straight from a SAW movie to be honest, but it'll do the trick. There's one dingy light hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room and all the walls, the roof and the floor are made of really old metal, and time hasn't treated it well at all. A constant smell of rust emanates from the walls and corroded splotches line every corner of the room. Torben and I found a sturdy metal chair and we moved it into the middle of the room also. We moved a desk in as well and are using it for the 'motivators' as Torben called them.

With a small welder, Torben welded the chair to the ground so Velor won't be able to squirm around in the chair too much. There's a slight knot in my stomach about what's to come. This is classed as torture and in council and alliance space, I'd be arrested for this. But here in the Terminus, it's an everyday practice. Torben told me to put my helmet on, which adds more intimidation to the interrogation, seeing as the one being 'interrogated' can't see your face and emotions. My helmets visor is black as well, so you can't even see my eyes.

God damn, I really hope I don't regret doing this. I've told myself that I'm going to make this as quick as possible, because I'm not okay with torture in the slightest, but I have to see this as a means to an end. The universe is an ugly place, and I was lucky enough to be raised on a world and in a country where I lived a relatively safe life. Hiding from all of this instead of facing it head on seems wrong to me, so I'll try my best not to crack today.

We sat Velor down in the chair and restrained his hands to the hand rests and his legs to the legs of the chair with metal cuffs that were lying around the room. He won't be moving anywhere soon. It's only a matter of time before he wakes up now. I hope he'll give me the answers sooner rather than later.

* * *

"Good morning sunshine!" I yell across the room to where Velor is sitting. He's finally coming to his senses and taking a look around.

"W-where the hell am I?" he asks in a confused tone. He's still dazed from the kick to the face I presume.

"What do you want it to be?" I ask playfully, stepping into the light. "This could be a normal metal room where you give me some answers quickly, or it could be hell for you."

The Turian scoffs at the remark. "You, get answers out of me? Good luck with that."

"We'll see." I say and crouch right onto eye-level with Velor. "Do you remember what I said to you after our first encounter?"

The Turian looks thoughtful for a second, before shrugging. "That your mother is a stupid whore?" he jeers.

I let out a sharp, bark of a laugh. "No!" I begin to exclaim. "I said that if I ever saw you again, I'd snap off more than your spur!"

The Turian's expression falters for a second, but it instantly reverts into an arrogant one.

"You're a coward, you won't do it even if I volunteered." He spits.

"Let's put that to the test," I smile at him, but he can't see my smile. I walk over to the desk and pick up what seem to be a medium sized pair of bolt cutters. Torben is waiting outside, I told him I wanted to do this by myself. He happily obliged, but set up a video camera in a corner of the room. He wanted to evaluate how I did after I'm done with the interrogation, the sick fuck.

I stand right in front of Velor and snap the bolt cutters together menacingly. "Now, I want to ask you a few questions my friend."

"Fuck you, I'm not telling you anything." Velor spits.

"I'll ask anyway!" I yell.

"I want the names of the people that put the bounty on me."

"I'm not telling you anything!" he reaffirms loudly.

I walk up to Velor's right spur and put it in-between the bolt cutters. "Names, now."

Velor spits on my armor, looking at me once again with defiant eyes. "Fuck. You."

I begin to slowly press down on Velor's right spur, causing him to begin squirming.

"Names." I repeat. "Names, and this ends now." I pause quickly and keep the pressure of the bolt cutters at this level. I look over to Velor who looks like he's in quite an amount of pain.

"No." he stutters out.

"Alright! Your choice, your pain." I hiss out and begin to slowly press down on the bolt cutters again. I begin to cut through the spur when Velor begins to yell out in pain. I don't stop though and keep slowly applying pressure, as Velor's screaming gets louder. I only stop as the spur is hanging by a small piece of what seems to be nerves and look back and Velor, who's still yelling in pain.

"You wanna talk now?"

"You're fucking crazy! You fucking maniac!" he screams at me.

"No? Okay." I say flatly and quickly tug on the spur, pulling it clean off much to the dismay of Velor. I'm glad he can't see my face, because I wouldn't look the part without the helmet on. I look absolutely terrified with what's going on right now. Why the fuck am I doing this? I can't back out now though, I need the fucking answers.

"Ready to talk now?" I say flatly, taking a knee in front of Velor, who still hasn't stopped squirming in his chair.

"Ffffffuck you!" he leans forward and screams at me, causing my face to contort in shock. Now I'm really glad that he can't see me.

"What was that?" I ask.

"Fuck you!" he screams again through what seem to be attempts at keeping down sobs. Oh god, I'm a horrible human being.

"Fingers? Did you say fingers?" I ask him, leaning towards him and cupping my imaginary ear.

"I'll talk!" he yells through labored breaths. "Only if you let me go after. I swear I won't ever come after you again."

I pull out my kukri and lean in close to him. Time to quote Ramsay Bolton.

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." I whisper in his ear and retract my head before he can head-butt me.

"Just give me the names, and I'll make this less painful for you." I reiterate. Come on man, don't be so fucking stubborn.

"No deal." He says slowly, looking me in the eyes again. I avert mine and look on the ground.

"Fingers, I heard fingers." I say and walk over to Velor's right talon and hold it down with my left hand. I look over to him once again, and I can see now that he's realized that I mean business. His mandibles are quivering and his eyes are growing wider by the second.

"Names." I state for the umpteenth time, only to get Velor's saliva launched onto my visor.

"Your loss."

I start with the talon that acts as a thumb and use the serrated back of the kukri and pull it over his finger, causing dark blue blood to instantly be released into the room. I feel sick, but I still don't have what I want. My mind is split right in two over this. One side is telling me to drop everything and walk out while the other is telling me to keep going. I drank at least three liters of water before this meaning that I'm kinda sober again and that I really need to pee.

I don't even ask if he wants to talk, I just keep sawing, quickly getting to the bone. At some point, the screaming is just too much for me, and I turn off my audio receptors and start listening to music. _'Dockyards'_ by Paul Kalkbrenner begins to play through my receptors and the only thing I see out of the corner of my eye is Velor flailing around, trying to get his hand out of the metal brace it's in. Turian's have pretty large bones in their fingers, and it's taking quite a long time to cut through it. I'm glad I can't hear anything, because I'm pretty sure that I'd stop halfway through. I can't imagine being in Velor's situation.

I look back over to him and I can see that he's moving his mouth in some form of speech. Maybe he'll talk now, I sure hope so. I look down at his thumb again and keep sawing until it's completely off, which doesn't take long because I cut through the bone at the same time I looked up at him.

I throw the knife on the desk and stand in front of him, turning off the music and putting the Audi receptors back no. I walk over to the desk and pick up some form of zip tie and loop it around his stump of a thumb and pull it tightly shut, causing him to yell in pain again.

I stand in front of him again and cross my arms. "Are you going to talk, or do you want me to start disassembling your fringe as well?"

Velor doesn't answer, but lets his head hang down and quietly begins to sob to himself. Why did he have to be this fucking stubborn? This could've just ended with a quick answer and a quick bullet to the head. He chose the hard way, and he's still not talking. Maybe psychological warfare will break him. I slowly walk over to the metal door and knock twice, causing a slit to open in the door. Torben peeks through.

"What is it rookie?" he asks is a hushed tone.

"He's not talking," I sigh and rub the back of my neck.

"Want me to give it a try?" he asks a little too happily.

"No." I state flatly. "I'm resulting to psychological methods now. Is his brothers corpse still around?" I ask a little too nonchalantly for my liking, causing a chill to run down my spine.

"What do you want with that?" Torben asks with furrowed brows.

"Take some picture of it and get your hands on a terminal of some kind, one you can display pictures on."

Torben instantly catches on and lets out a low, rumble of a laugh. "I like the way you think. I'll be back in a bit."

He closes the slit in the door and walks away. I turn my attention back to Velor, who's still quietly sobbing to himself.

"Talk now, and this ends." I say quietly.

"Why… why are you doing this?" comes the weak reply from Velor.

"I need answers." I reply in a monotone voice. "But you're not helping me here."

"You've taken the only thing I care about from me, there's no point anyway."

I furrow my brows under my helmet. "Your brother brought it upon himself. People that hurt my friends don't get mercy from me."

"But why like this? Why not just shoo-"

"Shut the fuck up!" I yell through the room.

"First, you mug me and I give you one more chance to not show up again. Then you show up again with your racist shithead brother and shoot one of my fucking friends, and now you're asking why I didn't just shoot you then and there? I'll tell you why, because you don't deserve it! You would've done the same shit to me if I was sitting in that chair so do not whine around like you're innocent and being accused of something you didn't do."

The entire lecture I just gave him, I yelled at him, causing him to hunker down and close his eyes. I spit on the ground in front of him.

"You brought this upon yourself, your brother did and now you're paying the price for it," I sneer through clenched teeth. "There's no way out of this, and you need to get that through your head."

"You're insane." Velor huffs out. "All humans are the same."

I willfully ignore his jibe and take the knife of the table again. "Stop with the racist bullshit. I have a lot more ways of inflicting harm on you, and I'm not afraid do it."

Velor reels back his head and mutters something along the lines of 'I'm sorry' a number of times.

"I don't understand you," I begin to say. "What's so important about the people that put a hit on me? Why are you putting your life on the line for them?"

"You wouldn't understand," comes the quiet reply from Velor.

"Enlighten me!" I yell at him. "Make me understand!"

"Everyone wants you!" I yells back with a shaky voice. "You have no records! Everyone wants you working for them!"

"Then why the bounty?" I ask angrily.

"It's the hospital, they want the money from selling you!" he cries out. "You'd sell for a fortune on the black market!"

What the fuck? Why would anybody buy me that wants me to work for them? Is a man with no records that valuable to the people that want to hire me? This doesn't add up.

"So the people that want to hire me are willing to pay a fortune to Aerinus General to get their hands on me?"

Velor nods weakly. "Aerinus General just wants the fortune you'd bring them, which is why I took the job, they said they'd pay me two percent of the total payout if I brought you in, dead or alive."

"What use am I dead?"

"Organs, they'd sell your organs." Velor sits up a little straighter, voice less shaky now. "They said your organs haven't been modified like those of a normal alliance citizen. Clean slate organs sell for a fortune as well."

I cross my arms again and let out a long sigh. "So the people that put the bounty on me work at Aerinus? I should've known Dr. T'neria was behind this."

"Not just her," Velor adds quietly. "The one who owns Aerinus spread the bounty notice across Chalkhos."

"Who is it?"

"Chax Vronake, Krogan slaver. High up in the chain of command."

I uncross my arms and walk over to the table and pick up my pistol. "Who else?"

"Chax's right hand man. A Salarian named Heral Telano."

"That's all of them? How high is the bounty now?"

Velor spits out a wad of blood onto the ground. He must've bitten his tongue during the interrogation. "The bounty is at five hundred credits now and I swear to you that those are the people that are keeping the bounty up."

"I should know better than to trust you by now, but… you've given me a lead, and I'm thankful for that."

I raise the gun and pull the trigger, bullet punching its way through Velor's head. His body goes rigid for a split second before going completely limp. Just then, the door knocks and Torben opens it after.

"Rookie, I couldn't get the pictures, someone moved the body." He says before looking at the body of Velor.

"Did he talk?" He asks while examining the body.

"Yes, he did."

"What information did he give you?"

"Names." I reply quickly.

"Of?"

I walk over to the camera and take out the box containing the film of the interrogation. I toss it to Torben and walk out of the room. I quickly turn around and look at Torben while taking off the helmet.

"Of people I'm going to kill."

* * *

_Dark times loom over us friends! This, like I said, was a fairly dark chapter that I wrote for you. David is losing his innocence, and I wanted to show that in a chapter where he does what he has to, but he's not completely okay with it. He realized what would happen if he didn't follow Chalkhos's first rule, and he almost pair the price for it with his life. Let's hope he's learnt his lesson now, cause if he didn't, he'll just end up at square one again, which probably means dead in a ditch._

_This chapter isn't quite as long as the last three, which were around 8k. This one is around 7k which I hope you guys don't mind that much. Next chapter we're going to have a time jump but like I said, I don't know how long it will be. I'll probably have David talk to Benji at the beginning of the chapter which'll take place right after the interrogation and then I'll skip ahead, but I haven't decided fully yet._

_Like always everyone, leave a review, some feedback or just a PM telling me what you like about the story (or what you don't like). I welcome feedback with open arms!_

_P.S: Next update won't be out in two days' time, it'll take a little longer due to me helping my sister move into another house, and that'll take a little while, so stay tuned!_

_Until next time!_

_David._


	8. Serrice Council

_Hey everyone! Welcome to chapter 7 of act 1 of Reduced Mass! Last time around, David did what he thinks he had to do to find out who exactly put the bounty on him by torturing Velor. He got his names, but at what cost? Will he be able to live with himself as a human being? Who knows, really? 9 years is a long time to have a character develop and I have that amount of years and 2 stories that are pre ME1 to do that, so the changes to David are going to come one at a time and will creep up on him, with getting used to killing people being an exception as that is a change that has to happen quickly on Chalkhos, which has a golden rule: Adapt or die._

_This chapter like I said previously will skip ahead some time, because if I write about every job and day off on Chalkhos, that would make up an entire story in itself. I assure you, every time I skip ahead in time, I'll make sure to have David summarize what happened during the time skip. Nothing major to the plot, character defining or extremely badass thing will take place during that time._

_How long is the time jump in this chapter? You'll have to read to see! Character interaction and a little bit of action will be the main focus of this chapter, but it'll be less dark than the torture of Velor. Those moments will occur again, but I won't just throw them in randomly. I want everyone to know that whatever David does, it'll have some effect on him and his character, for better or for worse. Otherwise, David would be just another gary-stu/boring character that can do anything he wants and his conscience will remain as clear as ever. That's unrealistic and boring to write._

_Anyway, enough rambling on from me! Let's get back into the action, shall we? We shall!_

* * *

I can't sleep. The reality of this situation has hit me hard in the chest and left me no room to think. What I've done is done, but I've finally realized what the hell I actually did. It's like a freight train has derailed in my head and all it was carrying is fears. I tortured someone, and while I did it I didn't bat a single eyelash at the pain I was inflicting the turian strapped to the metal chair in front of me at the time. I burned his brother alive, and willfully ignored his agonizing screams of pain as he was being cooked in his own skin. Sure, at the time I was seemingly okay with it, maybe it was the adrenaline rushing through my body, or the fact that I just pushed the thoughts into the back of my mind, but everything's coming back to me now. I treated this like a game, because until a few days ago, I still wasn't entirely convinced this was real. Sure, I kept telling myself that, and I knew it all along, but my subconscious always doubted the fact that I was launched into the future and am now living here.

It's been almost two months since I tortured Velor, a months and three weeks to be exact. Since then, I've fully gotten into the work routine that Tarvus has laid out for me. But I'm not myself when I do the jobs. I've learned to turn off my emotions if I have to do anything morally wrong, and that scares me. I'm not an emotionless, violent thug but Chalkhos says otherwise. When Tarvus tells me to do something, which mostly includes beating money out of someone, I go and do it, not because I like to do it, but because in my head I keep telling myself that I have to do it and in a way, I do. I'm earning my way off of this planet one month at a time. I still have over three months to go until I don't have to work for Tarvus anymore and it's getting harder not to hate myself as every day goes by.

I've stopped sleeping because of it. I'm afraid to. If I actually do catch some sleep, it's riddled with nightmares Velor, the Cerberus operative and Velor's brother. Their broken and dead bodies flash by me in a cruel slideshow or I find myself trapped in a room with them, their screams echoing through my ears, which makes me wake up with a cold sweat lining my forehead and my heart beating out of my chest. My brain can't seem to fathom the fact that I kill and beat people for a living, and it's making me pay the price for it now. Even telling myself that I'm doing the right thing isn't working anymore, because what I'm doing isn't right, it's necessary for me to do it, unless I want to die.

A lot can happen in about two months. Right after torturing and killing Velor, I went to go throw up, which was either because of my drinking of copious amounts of alcohol before the entire Velor fiasco took place or because I was properly disgusted with myself, which I was. Right as I pulled the trigger and released Velor from his suffering, my stomach started somersaulting furiously, and almost instantly I felt the urge to throw up. I couldn't fully understand what I just did at the time, but I knew that it was wrong. I got the names of the people that want me captured, but at what cost? I don't know what that cost me, aside from my bowels. In a place like this, people like Benji call me someone who gets the job done when he has to, someone who doesn't have problems 'manning up' when he has to, but I don't consider myself that, I consider myself someone who was broken and remolded by Chalkhos, a man who has stopped clinging on to his morals, a man acting on instinct and reacting to it mentally after it's happened.

Jermok went to go meet the batarians outside of the club a few days after the Velor fiasco, and we managed to crash that party. Torben and Garrett took out the batarians and I was tasked with ending Jermok's life, which I did. It's crazy isn't it? The person I wanted to help a week before because I thought he wasn't being treated fairly is a person that I shot because I was told to. I pushed that into the back of my mind as well, not wanting to think about it. Other than that, the month and few weeks weren't as eventful as I'd like them to be. The training with Torben moved back to being the largest part of my day, and every once in a while I was sent to beat tax money out of a merchant that was withholding it from Tarvus. I took part in some drug deals as well, but they didn't go haywire like the one in the residential area. Speaking of which, Tarvus managed to figure out how the scientist improved the Flex and ha distributed the strain to the people that run his drug farms. Turns out that Tarvus has giant Flex plantations in Chalkhos's countryside, which I haven't got the pleasure of visiting yet.

Torben has taught me a lot in the past weeks. After I finished my basic CQB training, he moved me on to assault rifles, and once again, living on a planet in the Terminus Systems like Chalkhos has proven to be very helpful in the tech department. I got my hands on a Phaeston, a fucking Phaeston! As badass as that sounds, I'm still shit at using AR's and I still need a lot of practice. The same goes for shotguns and snipers, which I also got a crash course on. I'm still most proficient with the pistol, and it's my choice of weapon. I love my gun to be completely honest with you, it's reliable, easy to clean and packs a punch. It's definitely illegally modified in some way, but no one cares, we're in the Terminus!

With that much training in the past weeks, it was easy to push my fears and doubts into the back of my mind, but it's been quiet these last few days, and that means that I have a lot of time to think. Thinking about everything I've done in my new line of work until now, and the realization of what I've become hit me like a ton of bricks. All this time I pushed all the negative thoughts into the back of my head and they all poured out one day, which lead to a minor mental breakdown. I had to hide my actual emotions all day because I was training with Torben, but once I was in bed, I released the floodgates. I was lucky enough that I was the only one in the sleeping room at the time. It felt good to let out all of the pent up emotions that I locked in myself, and I felt a lot better afterwards. That doesn't mean that I wasn't still disgusted with myself, it just meant that I could keep up my façade for a few more weeks.

I never thought that I'd become the person I am right now, but life has a knack for being unpredictable right?

* * *

I walk out of the sleeping room in a daze. I didn't get a single ounce of sleep last night, and it shows. I have giant rings under my eyes and seem to walk like a zombie around the shop, much to the amusement of Benji. I stumble over to the table and sit down. Benji looks up at me and smiles.

"Seems like you got a good night's rest," he laughs. "You look extremely well rested."

"Fuck you Benji," I reply in an annoyed tone. "I'm not in the mood for jokes."

Benji slides me his cup of coffee, and raises up an arm in defense. "Just trying to add some comic relief to this situation!"

I appreciatively grab the cup of coffee and take a sip. "Sorry, I'm just not in a very good mood," I say apologetically. "Insomnia has a way of pissing someone off."

"Since when do you have insomnia?" Benji asks while raising an eyebrow.

"I have no idea, I just do for some reason."

"I can give you some pills that'll help you sleep."

"No, no, that's fine!" I say a little too fast, causing Benji to give me a confused look.

Truth is, I don't want to sleep, I'm scared to.

"Whatever, as long as you're a hundred percent fit today, you can be an insomniac as long as you want," Benji shrugs. "We have an important job to do."

I groan. "If there's an important job to do, I'm going to need a lot more caffeine."

Benji chuckles. "I have some caffeine pills in my locker, if you want them."

I nod. "I'll need a lot of those, I haven't slept properly in weeks."

"I thought you were over torturing Velor."

Fucking hell, Benji can just see right through me, can't he?

"I thought I was too," I reply. "But a few weeks ago, I started having nightmares about what I did."

"It's normal, especially if it was your first time torturing someone," Benji says reassuringly. "But you got what you wanted out of Velor. The ends justify the means."

I know that what he's saying is right, but it's not making me feel better about it. If I didn't torture Velor, I would've never found out who is putting the bounty on me and is raising it as time goes on, but it still feels wrong.

"Yeah, the ends justify the means," I say quietly, looking down into my cup of coffee.

Benji puts a hand on my shoulder. "It takes some time to get over it, but you will. Hell, you're fine with beating and shooting people now, the next step will be getting over the fact that you tortured someone."

"I'm not myself when I do what I do, I turn off all emotions," I say quietly, still looking into my cup of coffee. "I'd have never thought that I would be able to do that."

"That's what you're supposed to do," Benji counters. "You're doing everything right."

I chuckle mirthlessly. "It just surprised me, you know?""

Benji nods. "I know exactly how you feel, I went through the same thing and I can tell you that it'll pass as time goes on. You might not like the things you're doing, but a job's a job."

I chug the rest of the cup of coffee, not paying attention to the heat of it. It burns on the way down but I willfully ignore it.

"So, what job did we get today?" I ask, changing the subject. I don't want to talk about morals right now.

Benji catches on and shrugs. "The scientist who made our Flex more potent, the one Tarvus and Torben killed… turns out that he met with Ukathan before meeting with us and sold him some of it as well."

God damn, now I know why Tarvus wanted him dead. He'd have sold it to a lot more people if we didn't shut him down. I wonder if he sold it to Cerberus too.

"Good thing we shut him down then," I muse, causing Benji to nod. "If we didn't, we'd have a lot more people with the Flex in their possession."

"The good thing is that Ukathan hasn't figured out how to replicate the strand yet, and that's where we come in."

"Are we going to destroy his sample?" I ask, folding my hands together and setting them on the table.

"Yes, but there's a problem," Benji replies. "He has it stored in one of his safe houses, located right smack in the middle of one of his supply depots."

He's right, that'll complicate some things.

"Are we going in guns blazing? I bet Torben would love that." I joke.

Benji chuckles. "That'd be suicide. The two of us are going to go in quietly and destroy it like that. Quickly and quietly."

I promptly spit out the last sip of coffee that was still in the cup and begin coughing. "We're doing what!?" I sputter out.

"Infiltration, sabotage, exfiltration. Shadow operation."

"Why me exactly?" I ask in a shocked tone. "I have no experience with this kind of crap."

"Torben said you needed the experience. He also said that you perform best when put into unfamiliar situations."

Torben is right, I perform best when I'm under pressure, but this is something completely different. I'm no Sam Fisher, I'll probably fuck something up.

"Fuck, this day just gets better and better." I mumble.

"Briefing takes place in a few hours, we'll be hitting the supply depot at night, which means that you have all day to prepare for this."

"Why at night? The lights are going to be on anyway." I say while shaking my head.

"Yeah but there'll be no natural light from the outside, which means that it'll be at least a little easier to sneak by. Besides, the lighting in Aerinus is shit, you saw it yourself."

"It's bright enough on Market Street, what makes the dockyards so different?"

"No one that's important sees the shipyards, which means that they don't have to make it look good." Benji replies.

I groan and put my head in my hands. "This is a tough pill to swallow."

"It'll be fine, Ukathan's thugs aren't the smartest, so we'll have no trouble outmaneuvering them. Torben will give a few instructions before we actually go in and he, Tarvus and Garrett will have access to our helmet feed."

"Are we gonna use a tactical cloak?" I ask.

"No. They're not fully developed yet and way too expensive at the moment. The prototypes cost a fortune."

"So… we're going to be sneaking around the supply depot, break into the safe house, destroy the Flex, probably kill some guards and leave without anybody seeing us?"

"Yes."

"God damn. This is going to be interesting," I sigh and lean back in my chair. "I'm going to need much more than one pack of cigarettes to keep me calm during the day."

"If you need some, I bought new ones." Benji offers with a smile on his face. He takes out a pack and slides them to the middle of the table.

The carton of cigarettes I bought right at the start of my job here is gone. I haven't smoked this much since I turned eighteen, when I thought it was still cool. I think it's all the stress that's making me smoke this much. I have two ways to cope when it comes to stressful, painful, life threatening situations: Humor and smoking, and I usually combine the two.

"I appreciate it," I smile back. "I think it's safe to say that this is going to be a little nerve wracking." I pause for a second and sigh. "For me at least."

"Oh trust me, I'm nervous too, I might've done something like this before, but on a much smaller scale."

I furrow my brows. "How big is the supply depot exactly?"

"It's his biggest supply depot, and his most secure."

I groan again. "Benji, you're not making me feel any better about this. Why aren't Garrett or Torben doing this?"

He lets out a loud laugh. "Torben and Garrett are way too big for this kind of job, or do you think Torben would be good at stealth?"

"Point taken," I chuckle. "But I'm not exactly small considering height, now am I?"

"By too big I mean that they have way too much muscle mass on them and are too heavy to effectively move around quietly," Benji counters. "The two of us are about the right size, or so Tarvus says, and we can move around quietly."

I shrug. "Whatever, as long as I don't die, I'll be fine."

"If I know Tarvus, he's going to have a thought through plan that'll keep us alive," Benji smiles. "He always does."

"I know, but this isn't taking away the knot in my stomach," I say, raising up my hands. "I'll have to distract myself until the briefing."

"You got like… nine hours until the briefing, so good luck with that."

"I have _some _stuff to get done, but I don't know if it'll fill up nine hours," I sigh.

"If you have time in a couple of hours, I can teach you the basics of hacking, and set you up with a training terminal."

"That'd be great, but why in a couple of hours?"

"Tarvus is sending Garret and I to scout out the supply depot, we'll be back with videos, pictures, all that stuff for the briefing."

"Ah," is all I say.

"I'll message you once I'm back," Benji says while looking at his omni-tool. "Which reminds me, I have to go now actually. I'll talk to you later." Benji hurriedly says and walks out of the room before I can reply properly. I grunt out a '_mhm_' and am left in the room by myself again.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me today. Infiltrating a high security supply depot, who the hell do they think I am? I've never done this before, so why put me into the position and throw me into the cold water?

I shake my head and grab the box of cigarettes lying on the table in front of me. I promptly stick a cig in my mouth and light it. I take a drag and let the smoke fill my lungs before breathing out. I'm not letting the 'I perform well under pressure' excuse count this time. This is way too much pressure for me. I'm going to sneak into this safe house with hundreds of guards, destroy the flex without being noticed and then get our without being noticed… and all of that with no fucking tactical cloak?! This has got to be some sick way of getting rid of me.

At least Benji can try to keep me alive on this one. I wonder how large the supply depot actually is, because if Ukathan stores the Flex in it, it must be pretty big. And secure. Fuck. Thinking about this won't make me feel any less nervous about it, so I might as well just try and get my mind off it. I'll go talk to Tarvus, maybe he'll give me something to do.

* * *

"Hey boss," I say while walking into Tarvus's office. "I wanted to ask you something."

Tarvus looks up from a datapad and widens his mandibles in a slight smile. "By all means David, ask."

"You got any small job I can do? I'm trying to pass the time until Benji and I ruin Ukathan's party."

"As a matter of fact, I do," Tarvus begins to say, handing me a datapad. "The batarian merchant that Mr. Ming told you about weeks ago… the one who intercepted a ship of Serrice Council omni-tools." Tarvus looks at me to see if I'm following.

"He began selling them a few days ago, and I want you to stop him and secure the shipment."

Alright, sees simple enough I guess. "How many omni-tools did he manage to secure?" I ask.

"Two thousand." Tarvus replies bluntly, causing me to cross my arms.

"How the hell am I supposed to transport two thousand omni-tools back to the shop by myself? I'll get shot walking down the street with a giant box on my back."

Tarvus lowers his brow plates and thinks for a second before speaking. "They're only the omni-tool implants, which are pretty lightweight but… you're right, it isn't a one man job… I'll help you out."

Now I gotta say that that is a nice change for once. I don't have to work with Torben one this one, and that means that I won't get scolded for everything I do!

"How're we going to do this then," I say, putting my hands on Tarvus's desk. "We'll need some way of getting them back to the shop, and transporting them over Market Street will just get us shot."

"Skycar," Tarvus says flatly. "Every shop, including ours has a back lot that can park at least one skycar."

I didn't know every shop had a back lot where you can park a skycar. I thought only Tarvus had one, and I only noticed a small door at the back of the storeroom three weeks ago. It's got a jet black skycar parked there, but I've never seen anyone use it, because Tarvus walks to his luxury hotel room in the central hub and we sleep in the shop. Also, I never actually took a ride in a skycar before, so this'll be an interesting experience.

"Alright," I begin to say. "So we land, kill the merchant, take the omni-tools and leave?"

"Exactly," Tarvus nods. "But we need to do it without any one of the neighboring merchants to notice."

"Why do we have to do that?" I ask.

"Have I explained to you the way Market Street is run yet?" he counters, tapping a talon onto the desk.

"No, now that I think about it, you haven't," I reply and take a seat in front of him.

"Well, I'll give you the basic rundown," Tarvus begins to say, opening a drawer and taking out a bottle of turian Brandy and a glass.

"Market Street is split up into four 'factions'. There's two floors with two sides each, and every side is owned by a different merchant."

Tarvus pours himself a glass and puts the Brandy back in the drawer. "I own the entire right side of the bottom floor of Market Street. All other people who have a shop on my side work for me."

"And all the shops on the left side of the bottom floor belong to Ukathan?" I interject.

Tarvus widens his mandibles in a smile. "Exactly. The two merchants on the top floor don't want anything to do with us, and vice versa, which is why I only have problems with Ukathan." Tarvus takes a sip from his glass.

"I've been fighting for control of the bottom floor for years now, and it turned into a stalemate a few months ago… one that I can turn into my favor with the omni-tools and most importantly, the Flex."

Damn, I didn't think that this is basically an all-out war for the street. But now that Tarvus has put it into perspective for me, it does make sense. Torben, Benji and Garrett never go to the other side of the street to buy something, they only shop on Tarvus's side and some of Ukathan's more known thugs do the same, only vice versa. This planet is getting more interesting by the second.

"Makes sense," I muse, tapping a finger on my chin. "But people are going to notice that something's up if we fly the skycar right over to the merchant's shop, it's only about two minutes walking distance away."

"I know, which is why we're going to take a little detour," Tarvus takes another sip of Brandy before speaking again. "Tell me David, have you ever seen the outside of Chalkhos?"

I begin to grin and a feeling of excitement begins to form in the pit of my stomach. "No. No I haven't boss."

Tarvus returns the smile and empties his glass of Brandy. "Well, let me get you something you'll need for this and we'll be on our way."

I nod and begin to walk out of Tarvus's office before I'm stopped again.

"By the way David, wearing the armor will only get you shot at quicker, wear some casual clothes. Meet me by the skycar in fifteen minutes."

"Yes boss." I nod curtly and exit Tarvus's office. As ruthless as he might seem to people not working for him, Tarvus is a great boss to have. The pay's great, he treats his employees fairly… well, at least he treats me, Torben, Benji and Garrett fairly and most importantly, he's a good businessman. His methods might not be the most ethical, but working for him and doing what he says means that you'll have a secure job, and that's all I need right now.

It takes me a few minutes to change into some actual clothes. I didn't put on my armor yet so changing won't be a problem. I put on my washed out pair of jeans, a black shirt with my dark green hoodie over it and my favorite pair of brown boots. After changing, I brush my teeth and wax my hair back. I don't shave for the sole reason that I'm rocking a sweet five o'clock shadow now, which I'm not getting rid of even if you were to pay me.

* * *

I got to the skycar a few minutes early and decided to have a smoke while waiting for Tarvus. I have to say that even from here, Chalkhos looks absolutely beautiful. It's fairly flat and the flora resembles the flora that one would find on the Atlantic coast of France, and the large ocean that I see in the distance does kind of remind me of the Atlantic Ocean itself. I haven't breathed in fresh air in a damn long time, and it feels good to. While Aerinus oxygen supply is all natural and not recycled, all the smells from the shops, bars and whatever else smells destroys that fresh air feel.

The only downside? The heat. My god it is boiling hot here, and that's understating it. Last time I checked the temperature on my omni-tool, it said that it was fifty-two degrees Celsius! Fifty fucking two degrees! And that isn't even the peak temperature! I promptly brought my hoodie back inside because I didn't want to die of heat stroke out here while waiting, and waiting itself is making me sweat buckets. At least Aerinus is air conditioned.

The interesting thing about Chalkhos though is that a day's length isn't actually twenty-four hours, a day here on Chalkhos takes sixty-eight hours to end, which is fucking insane. Luckily enough, Tarvus and almost all other merchants on Chalkhos operate on a twenty-four hour day schedule because a lot of the people staying here for a 'business' trip are used to shorter days, and I welcome that. I wouldn't survive longer training sessions with Torben anyway. Speaking of which, I'm pretty happy about how my body is changing due to Torben's training. My muscles have grown quite a bit and I feel a lot stronger and better than before coming here… I'm quite proud of it actually.

"Ready to go?" a voice from behind me asks, and I spin around to see Tarvus standing there.

"Almost," I begin to say. "One more drag from the cigarette and I'll be ready."

I take said drag and flick the filter over the edge of the car lot. We're up at least fifty meters from the ground, so I won't get caught for littering.

Tarvus presses a button on his omni-tool and the skycar's top and left side folds open, making enough room for someone to walk in and take a seat. I walk in first and take a seat on the passenger side of the car. Tarvus walks in behind me and takes a seat as well. Tarvus reaches into one of his pockets and throws me a black cylindrical object.

"You'll need this, for now and for the supply depot."

"What is it?" I ask while moving the object around in my hands.

"A suppressor." Tarvus says while starting the engine of the skycar, which hums to life quietly.

"Ah." I say and un-holster my pistol and screw it on the barrel, holstering the pistol again after the suppressor snugly fit on my gun.

My stomach suddenly lurches as Tarvus lifts off from the ground. God damn, this feels like I'm on a drop tower in an amusement park. I don't get another moment to think about the feeling as Tarvus accelerates the skycar and I'm forcefully pushed back into my seat.

"God damn boss, how much horsepower does this have?" I huff out as he maxes out at four hundred and seventy-eight kilometers per hour and keeps it there. Tarvus turns to me and raises his brow plates.

"Horsepower?" he asks in a confused tone. "What the hell is horsepower?"

Right, I should've seen this coming. A skycar has a small Eezo core, not a traditional engine, so I think the term horsepower is obsolete. "How fast does it go, I meant."

"Oh," Tarvus says. "This is the top speed, one of the fastest skycar's on the market."

"Jesus Christ, that's pretty fast," I say with a hint of amazement in my voice.

"You bet it is, and I didn't pay a single credit for it!" Tarvus exclaims happily. "Stole it off of Chax Vronake a year ago, he's still trying to get it back."

"Chax Vronake?" I ask with wide eyes. "The krogan slaver? The one that put the bounty on me?"

Tarvus nods. I told him about the bounty on my head a few days after killing Velor, and surprisingly enough he said that he would not sell me out because I'm a valuable part of the team. That and that he would help me any way I can in killing him, Doctor T'neria and that salarian Heral Telano because he has some form of backstory with them, one which he wouldn't tell me yet. But, I'll take any help I can get.

"The one and only," Tarvus begins to say. "Torben, Garrett Benji and I raided one of his supply depots while he was there, it went a little south and we had to escape in his skycar."

"Why hasn't he gotten back at you?" I ask.

"He doesn't know that I stole it. When raiding warehouses, we wear unmarked black armor and helmets so no one recognizes us. Right after we stole it, he contacted me asking to get it back. Little did he know that I was the one who took it." Tarvus laughs, and I can't help but join in. The thought of a krogan asking the person that stole his car to get it back for him is absurd.

"What did you say?" I ask while smiling.

"I said that I'll try my best and that I'll contact him if I've found anything," Tarvus chuckles. "I haven't called him in over a year."

"Why doesn't he just check your car lot… I mean, it's right out in the open."

"Chax isn't the smartest in the world," Tarvus says and starts turning the skycar back towards Aerinus. I guess we're getting ready to land at that batarian's shop.

"What's the easiest way of getting to him?" I suddenly ask. Tarvus knows I want to kill him, so he isn't surprised by my question.

"Honestly, I have no idea. He's high up in the chain of command and heavily guarded, it might be best if you go after Doctor T'neria first."

"As long as I get the damn bounty off of me, I don't care which one I kill first," I deadpan and look out the window.

We're flying over the giant Ocean now that I saw from the back lot of Tarvus's shop. It's a beautiful dark blue color and the sun, which is slightly red by the way, is shining off of the surface making it look like the sun is setting although it's only eight in the morning. This planet, as merciless, oppressive and violent as it is, is absolutely stunning when you leave Aerinus. The sky is never blue, it's always a friendly tinge of orange that makes one feel right at home. But like most dangerous planets, looks are deceiving.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Tarvus asks me. I just nod and keep looking out the window.

"I've never seen anything like it," I say quietly. "It's breathtaking."

"I said the same thing when I left Aerinus for the first time, and I still do. Chalkhos has a way of attracting people to it and then keeping them there. When I first came here twenty years ago, I said to myself that I would leave within a year or two, but now look at me, twenty years later." Tarvus smiles.

"I don't want to leave either. This place is my home, and I'm going to be buried in its soil."

"What made you stay?" I ask interestedly.

"I was like you once. I was forced off of my home world and had to flee council space. I came to Chalkhos as a last ditch effort to save my self and got a job as a shop assistant. Weeks became months, months became years and five years later, the merchant died and I inherited the shop."

"You decided to keep his legacy going?"

"Yeah, that was at a time when crime didn't overrun Chalkhos and a government still ran it. It was fairly peaceful," Tarvus says, looking into the sky with a nostalgic expression.

"When did it turn to shit?" I ask carefully.

"It did not turn to shit!" Tarvus snaps. "It's still the Chalkhos it always was, it's still my home!"

I raise my hands up apologetically. "Sorry boss, I didn't mean to insult your home."

"Its fine, I just don't like it when people talk bad about my home," he sighs. "You'd react the same about your home right?"

I nod. "Of course, I'm proud of where I come from, and I'm proud to be living on a planet as beautiful as Chalkhos, regardless of how deadly it is."

"Good to hear…" Tarvus pauses for a few seconds before looking to me. "What was your home like…? Hanover was it?"

"It wasn't the most exciting of places, but it's still the place I call home," I begin to say. "Regardless of how far away it is."

"I've always wanted to visit earth," Tarvus says while flying a large arc around Aerinus. "Is Hanover worth visiting?"

"I'd say it is. It's got some beautiful places to visit."

"Like?"

"Are you a friend of nature?" I ask, causing Tarvus to nod.

"Then the _'Eilenriede'_ is the place for you. It's a forest right inside of the city, about a thousand six hundred acres large."

"Sounds intriguing." Tarvus says. "I'll put Hanover on to my list of places to visit in the universe."

"What other places do you want to visit?" I ask curiously.

"Concerning earth or the universe?" Tarvus responds.

"Both." I reply.

"Well, that's a question I'd have to think about for a bit, considering that there's hundreds of places I'd like to see before I die."

"I'll give you some time," I chuckle and look back out the side of the car.

"Eden Prime," Tarvus speaks up. "I heard it's a paradise."

"I heard the same thing," I agree. "One of the most beautiful colonies humans ever founded."

I look to Tarvus, who's smiling to himself. "I didn't think you were a man who was this crazy about travelling."

"There's a lot you don't know about me. Most people know me as the ruthless merchant with no sympathy, but that's not entirely true, I'm just a normal guy with normal interests."

"Like?"

"Well, travelling for one. I love watching movies, I enjoy playing sports, I enjoy a few drinks with friends and umm… I have a lot more hobbies, too many to count actually."

"Sports? What kind of sports?" I interject.

"Biotiball." Tarvus says bluntly. My mouth drops open.

"You're a biotic?!" I exclaim in a surprised tone. Tarvus just nods.

"I am. Not a lot of people know that. I don't really like using them for anything other than sports."

"Why not?"

Tarvus expression suddenly turns dark. "I don't want to talk about it," he states flatly. I'm sensing a dark experience, but I'm not going to push it further.

"Sorry boss, I didn't mea-"

"It's fine, just don't bring it up again," he interrupts. "Get ready, we're about to land."

I un-holster my gun and check it one more time. It's perfectly cleaned and I smile to myself. This gun is going to accompany me wherever I go, it'll be like Zaeed's favorite gun. I look forward to telling many stories related to this gun as the years pass. If I make it that is.

Tarvus brings the skycar slowly down on the batarian merchants landing pad and I catch a glimpse of two batarian's walking out to meet us with weapons drawn. My stomach lurches as I recognize one of the batarian's. It's one of the batarian's that beat me in the alley when I first got here, I hope he doesn't recognize me.

"How're we going to do this?" I ask, looking over to Torben.

"I was just going to shoot them," he deadpans. "But I didn't expect there to be more than one."

"Let me handle this," I say before I myself realize what I just said. "They'll recognize you, and that means that they'll shoot you on site."

"What will you do?" Tarvus asks as he is just about to touch down on the landing pad.

"Hide in the back once you put the car down, I'll handle it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am." I say as the car touches down. "Now hide."

Tarvus turns off the engine and scrambles into the foot room of the back row of seats. He brings up his omni-tool and opens the door.

"I'll be here if you need backup," he whispers before the doors open completely.

I step out of the car and walk towards the batarian's, who have their weapons raised.

"Who are you?" one of the batarians spits, assault rifle aimed at my head.

"Someone who could make you a rich man," I reply with a grin and point towards the skycar. "Do you know whose car that is?"

"No, whose is it?" the other asks with a shotgun aimed at me. I should've brought my shield generator.

"Chax Vronake's." I state. Both batarian's laugh.

"You expect us to believe you that this is Chax Vronake's car? The one that was stolen a year ago?"

I shrug. "No, but I know it is and sending me away now will not make you rich."

"I still don't believe you," the batarian with the shotgun, the one you beat me, hisses. "This could be a trick."

I pinch the bridge of my nose with my left hand. "Even if it wasn't Chax's car, a car like that could be sold for a hefty sum."

"He's right," the batarian with the AR agrees, a sly smile creeping across his face. "Why don't you come in…?"

"John Marston." I say with a smile. I already love referencing things in this universe without anyone knowing what I'm talking about.

"Well Mr. Marston, step inside and we'll talk about this car of yours, maybe even strike a …deal."

This batarian couldn't be shadier if he tried. I know he's going to kill me for the car, so I'll be ready for it. The funny thing is, he thinks that he's fooling me, which he's not. Maybe he thinks I'm not from Chalkhos which is amusing, because one of his henchmen beat me in the street weeks ago. I guess batarian's aren't very smart.

I walk through the door and am met by a pungent smell, which forces me to stop myself from gagging with every fiber of my being. This is disgusting.

"Take a seat Mr. Marston," the batarian smiles. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Water please." I say curtly, and the batarian with a shotgun walks into a room and disappears for a second.

"So Mr. Marston, about this car of yours," the batarian begins. "Where did you find it?"

"I found it parked near the departure zone of the Aerinus spaceport."

"So you're telling me that you stole it?" the batarian asks, feigning interest?

"Yes, I did. It was just sitting around so I decided that it was mine."

"Most interesting Mr. Marston," the batarian smiles. "And you're sure this car belongs to Chax Vronake?"

"Positive."

"What makes you say that?" the batarian says in that damn friendly tone which I know is just an act.

"What other person has a jet black high performance skycar on Chalkhos?"

"You make an intriguing point Mr. Marston. How much would you want for the car?"

The other batarian walks back into the room with a glass of water and sets it on the table in front of me.

"A hundred and fifty thousand."

The batarian's eyes widen for a split second. "That's a hefty sum for someone like you."

"It's the sum I want," I deadpan. "Or it's no deal, _good sir._" I put emphasis on the pronunciation of good sir, making it sound more like an insult.

The batarian sneers. "I don't think you know who you're making a deal with."

"You're right, I don't," I sneer back. "But I want my money, and I'm not leaving without my sum."

I pick up the water and bring it up to my mouth, but before the liquid touches my lips, I stop and see the batarian eyeing the glass in my hand very heavily. I take a sniff of the liquid and my nose immediately begins to burn.

This isn't water, it's some form of acid. I pretend like I'm about to take a sip but interrupt myself accordingly and put the glass back down. These guys really want me dead, don't they?

"This is your only chance to give me the money, or I leave." I say, staring into the batarian's eyes.

"I' afraid that isn't going to happen," he smiles. "I'm not paying you, and I'm going to take the car."

"Bad decision," I say. "That's not going to happen."

"And how are you supposed to stop me?" the batarian laughs. The batarian who beat me cocks his shotgun behind me and presses it against my neck.

I slowly begin to stand up and the barrel of the shotgun follows me up as well.

"This is your last chance to walk away, _human_." The batarian sneers.

"Alright, alright, you win," I begin to say. "I'll leave."

The batarian smiles evilly. "Glad we could do business with you," he puts on that fake smile again.

I smile as well and pick up the glass of 'water' again. I bring it up to my mouth slowly, eyeing the batarian in front of me. At about halfway, I fling the glass forward and the liquid lands right smack in the middle of his face. Almost instantly, the batarian in front of me begins to scream and clutch his face. He runs towards what he thinks is the landing pad, but on the way, he trips over his own feet and lands face first on a metal crate. The crack of his skull is audible and he stops screaming.

As that was taking place, the batarian behind me was taken completely off guard, and he lowers his shotgun for a split second, which I take advantage of. I spin around and send my head flying into the batarian's face.

"Look familiar?" I yell as the batarian rears back. He tries to shoot at me with the shotgun but before the shot can go off, I kick the gun out of his hands send a fist right into his face, which knocks him on his ass.

Before he can get back up, I pull my gun and shoot the batarian in both of his knees, causing him to cry out pain.

"Remember me?" I sneer at him as he looks up at me. His face contorts in realization and he frowns.

"The coward that I beat in the streets like a fucking Varren?" he jeers. I gotta say, he reminds me a lot of Velor, with that defiance in his eyes. But I'm not going to torture this guy, as satisfying as that would seem.

"That's the one," I smile. "I'm looking for omni-tools, Serrice Council omni-tools to be exact. If you tell me where they are, I'll let you live."

The batarian points to the crate that the acid covered batarian split his face on. I walk over and put a bullet in the batarian's head for good measure.

"This box?" I point to the box, and the batarian nods. I pick it up and it's surprisingly light.

I bring up my omni-tool and call up Tarvus. "Boss, get the car ready for a fast start. We're going to be clearing out quickly."

"Alright," comes the simple reply from Tarvus, and he hangs up after.

"Now, what to do with you?" I ask myself loud enough for the batarian to hear me.

"You said you'd let me go!" he exclaims, his eyes widening in shock.

I chuckle quietly, before turning my attention to the batarian.

"I lied."

"You bastard! I'll kill you for this!" the batarian yells angrily, but I willfully ignore it.

I take a look around the store and spot a large chain on a shelf. I check my pockets and take out two large zip-tie like restraints from my right pant pocket. They're made of carbon, which means that they're extremely durable.

I take the chain off of the shelf and walk towards the batarian, who's still swearing at me. I pull my gun and shoot him in both arms so he won't be able to defend himself and stand behind him and begin to wrap one end of the chain tightly around his neck, securing the hold with a carbon zip tie.

I start walking and yank the batarian, who's grunting in pain behind me and out of the shop and onto the landing pad. I pick up the case, which luckily has a strap on it so I can loop it over my shoulder and walk out of the shop. Tarvus sees me and raises his brow plates.

"Engines on!" he yells before seeing the batarian I'm dragging behind me, the one that's still grunting in pain.

"What're you doing with that guy?" he asks.

"I'm sending a message."

I stop at the end of the railing and loop the other end of the chain around a part of it, also securing it with a carbon zip-tie.

"Any last words, friend?" I ask with a scowl down at the batarian who's realized what's about to happen.

"Burn in hell." He spits through shallow attempts to breath.

"You first." I say and push him off of the landing pad and into nothingness. He drops two meters before the chain has no more slack and stops his decent instantly. The railing bends but doesn't break as I watch the batarian's life get squeezed out of him.

I turn away and walk towards the skycar that Tarvus is sitting in.

"That sends a message alright," he jokes as I take a seat beside him. "Benji and Garrett are back from scouting the supply depot, briefing will take place in three hours."

I glance back to the batarian one more time, who is now limply hanging from the side of the landing pad.

"Good, I got the omni-tools as well. I'd say today is the day that we weaken Ukathan significantly."

"That it is," Tarvus agrees and takes off towards the way we came to avert suspicion.

I don't feel bad for killing the batarian's, not one bit. I smile to myself as I look out towards the Ocean again. They deserved it.

What the hell is wrong with me?

* * *

_And that was the chapter! This is the longest chapter of the series at the moment, with about 9k words. It took some time to write as life caught up to me a bit, with helping my sister move and all that. The move was a success, but I'm never going to carry things up to the 5__th__ floor again without an elevator. After the move, I just tumbled into bed and slept and slept and slept. With that much rest, I got straight back to writing and finished the chapter as fast as I could, so I hope you enjoy is as much as I enjoyed writing it._

_One thing I wanted to do this chapter is make Tarvus seem more like an actual person with interests, hobbies etc. to make him less two dimensional. I'll be doing that with every character as time passes and I hope I did a good job with Tarvus._

_Next chapter is going to be even more action packed, as the entire chapter is based around the infiltration of the supply depot. Will the mission go according to the plan that the team is going to conjure up? Find out next chapter!_

_Once again, make sure to read and review this chapter, as any sort of feedback helps me a great deal in pushing the story forward!_

_Until next time!_

_David_


	9. Into The Rabbit Hole

_Hey everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of Reduced Mass! Last time around, David was trying to pass the time between him waking up and infiltrating a batarian merchant's largest supply depot to destroy a potent new strand of a psychoactive drug called 'Flex'._ _David passed his time by helping Tarvus secure a shipment of 'Serrice Council' omni-tools from another rival batarian merchant. David got the shipment, but not without killing both batarian merchants that resided in the shop without batting an eyelash._

_What is happening to our protagonist? Is he going insane? Is he killing for the fun of it? Nobody knows! You'll just have to keep reading to find out more! It's going to get a lot more interesting further down the line._

_To clear something up a bit: David is not the definition of a 'hero' of the story, he was never intended to be a hero, he is the protagonist. When I hear the word hero, I imagine a person doing good and being a moral/paragon powerhouse whose decisions always have to benefit others. This is not David. David is the protagonist of the story, and he is by no means a paragon powerhouse. While he still has morals and a definition of justice and fairness in his mind, those are slowly slipping away from him, considering the fact that he's on a world where everyone beats the motto "Kill or be killed" into his head. _

_As strong willed as a person might be, after a few weeks of being conditioned to think like that, you start to accept the fact that you have to kill or be the one that's killed. Peer pressure and pressure in general can make a person do terrible things. _

_Now I know that "hero" in writing terms is the person that you root for, the one you want to see 'win', but you don't have to root for David if you don't want to. On any world outside of the Terminus Systems, he'd be stamped as a terrible human being and a coldhearted murderer. If I placed David on the Citadel and made him do the things he did on Chalkhos, I'd be asking myself if that'd be the right choice. Circumstance, situation and location play an important role in a characters life._

_Anyway, enough rambling from me. This chapter is going to be the infiltration mission that David and Benji are undertaking to destroy Ukathan's Flex. Will they succeed? Let's find out!_

* * *

Hacking isn't as hard as it looks. What the hell am I talking about, it's fucking difficult and I'm crap at it, which is understandable as I only got a really skim rundown of how to hack. After I got back from that batarian's shop and dropped the omni-tools off at Tarvus's office, I still had enough time to sit down with Benji so he could show me how to hack something, In a universe where everything is electric and run with VI's, basically anything is hack-able, you just need to find out how. It's basically like changing a line of code… which I have absolutely no idea how to do.

It turns out that Benji is a great teacher when it comes to this kind of stuff, and he started by showing me how to access the interfaces of things that I would normally hack, like doors, terminals and whatever else I might hack on missions. That, surprisingly enough, is the easy part, as it just requires me to 'ping the server that it runs on', which basically means that I have to send an access request to the object I want to hack by posing as an administrator, and to do that I run a preprogrammed script that accesses the targets interface. How does the script know what to access? Simple. I aim my palm at the thing I want to hack and run a scan protocol, which takes only a few seconds to run through completely.

Now comes the complicated part, and that's actually overriding whatever I want to hack. Surprisingly enough, Benji split up the act of hacking into five different levels on the _'Technical Difficulty Scale'_ for me, or just _'T.D.S'_ for short. I'm learning what is considered class one stuff, like locked but not encrypted doors/ lightly encrypted doors, terminals with simple encryption and everything else that can be considered low class military tech or medium class civilian tech.

Now, once I've accessed the interface of what I want to hack, I need to send an override command to whatever is controlling that specific objects controls. It might be a circuit board built into my target, or it might be at a terminal in another room. If I did everything right, I'm met by a blank orange screen that always reminds me of the command prompt on my old PC, besides the fact that it's orange. There might be some firewalls in the way and if there are, I need to manually bypass those. If not, an override code is enough and the door that I've hacked for example, opens or locks depending on what I wanted to do with it. Sounds simple right? Not really. Rarely any door has no firewalls and manually bypassing them is an absolute bitch to do, even class one stuff.

It's nothing like the hacking in the Mass Effect games at all. I need to manually override the firewalls by short-circuiting the security chips implanted in my hacking target. I do that my sending targeted electrical impulses to the security chips, and I need to do that in a certain order, or the target locks me out. How do I find the security chips you ask? I run a secondary scanning script that lets me know how many security chips there are, but not which order I have to override them in. I find that out by sending the override command to the main circuit board. Once the command gets stopped, I have a few seconds to short-circuit the security chip and move one, otherwise I'm locked out. It's an intense exercise that leaves no room for error.

And by the looks of it, it'll be months until I progress to the next level of the T.D.S and years until I've mastered all levels. Good thing I have enough time to learn then. Eight years to be exact. Tarvus hired me November twelfth and its January fifteenth now, which means my birthday is coming up. Damn, it's crazy to think that it's only 2175 right now. I still have a long way to go.

* * *

I stood at the table in the meeting room with the entire team gathered around the table as well. Turns out that the table had a built in terminal screen right in the middle of it, and all you had to do was press a button on the side for it to get lifted upwards when the top part of the table retracted. This screen was like any other screen in the Mass Effect universe, with it being holographic. The screen showed a multilayered 'blueprint' of Ukathan's supply depot. It was fucking massive, and that expression doesn't do it justice. Area wise, it was twice as large as Aerinus central hub and just about as high as the central hub itself, and trust me, the central hub is huge. How Ukathan can afford such a large warehouse is beyond me.

It was built up in a symmetrical way, with a six story high building shaped like a cube being right in the center of it all. Garrett estimated that the length of all four sides of the warehouse is at around eight hundred meters and the roof is around three hundred meters high. When I saw the first pictures Benji and Garrett took, my heart skipped a beat. It looked like a fucking colony, no, it was a colony, what with all the guards and personnel living there. Below the safe house was a maze of containers, boxes, vehicles and guard posts. With a setup like that, Ukathan seems like a comic book villain to me, with the maze leading to a giant metal tower that overlooks everything. How Benji and I were going to do this, I had no fucking clue.

"So, how're we going about this?" I ask with crossed arms, furrowing my brows at the gigantic blueprint that is in front of me.

Benji looks just as determined to figure out a way into the compound as me. "I have absolutely no clue," he replies. "This place is exponentially bigger than I imagined it would be."

"Tell me about it," I agree. "This thing could be a fuckin' colony."

Tarvus taps his right talon onto the table in thought. "This complicates some things."

"How the hell does Ukathan have that much personnel working for him here? He can't afford to finance this!" Garrett asks in an annoyed tone. "Not even we have that big of a warehouse!"

"Something's not right here," Torben interrupts. Somebody is financing him, someone with a lot of money by the looks of it."

Tarvus growls in frustration, slamming a talon on to the table, making the holographic screen distort for a few moments. "This is ridiculous! How can Ukathan have found someone willing to finance him!?"

"We're beating a dead horse here," I begin to say. "Getting angry about how Ukathan got this city of a warehouse won't help us in destroying the Flex."

"We're beating a what?" Tarvus asks confusedly. "What's a horse?"

Ah right, turians have difficulties understanding human idioms.

"It's a figure of speech boss, it means that no matter how long you're going to be angry about Ukathan having a shady backer, it won't get you anywhere. Or have you seen someone ever ride into town on a dead horse before?"

"I might not know what a horse is," Tarvus says while sighing. "But you're right about this, we need a plan to get into the 'warehouse'."

Tarvus air-quotes the word 'warehouse' like councilor Sparatus would air-quote the word reaper. Maybe turians have a knack for air-quoting.

"Let's start simple," Garrett speaks up suddenly. "There's only one main entrance into the warehouse, and it's heavily guarded. At least twenty guards split up into four different security checkpoints. You can only pass the checkpoints if you're in a vehicle that's been registered with a license that's signed either by Ukathan himself or one of his lieutenants."

"You call that simple?" I ask in disbelief. "How the hell are we going to get past that?"

Garrett chuckles at my distress. "Where are all the pictures taken from?" he asks, looking directly at me.

"From above… oh."

"Exactly. You and Benji aren't going to barge through the front door, both of you are going to go the way he and I went." Garrett explains.

"Which way is that? The vents?"

"No, of course not. Vents are too noisy. You're going to gain access through the roof of the warehouse."

"What other way through the roof is there besides vents?" I ask while crossing my arms.

"The maintenance walkways and tunnels."

Benji nods along with Garrett, but I keep my arms crossed. "How're we going to get access to those? Benji and I aren't part of the maintenance crew."

"You get in the way we came in. The sewer."

I let out a short laugh at that remark, and Torben seems to not understand the logic behind Garrett's plan as well.

"You're bullshittin', right? Sewers are underground and last time I checked, the warehouse was three hundred meters high."

Garrett smirks at me. "Have you ever considered the warehouse being underground?

My eyes widen at the remark. No, I did not consider the warehouse being underground and nor do I believe it at the moment.

"You can't hide something as big as that underground," I say whilst shaking my head.

"Oh but that's where you're wrong!" Benji exclaims. "Chalkhos used to be a mining world hundreds of years ago, and right below Aerinus used to be the planets largest Platinum mine."

Garrett chimes in. "The miners dug hundreds of meters into the ground and began to cavern mine the Platinum, which basically means that symmetrical outlines of eight hundred by eight hundred by three hundred blocks were outlined and the mined, with all the waste being shipped upwards and dumped into the ocean."

I guess that explains the sheer size of the warehouse.

"Once the mines ran dry, hundreds of these holes were left over, and a company native to Chalkhos decided to make use of the space and converted them into warehouses, which cost a fortune." Benji adds in.

"So why are there sewers above the warehouses then, and how are they accessed?"

"Aerinus was built over top of some of the warehouses."

I nod in understanding. "Right, this makes more sense to me now."

I look over to Torben and he seems to have understood as well. But one question is still in my mind.

"How did we find out about this warehouse?" I ask.

"The batarians that met Jermok outside of the nightclub had a datapad on them with the location of the warehouse and how to reach it. They were going to relocate Jermok there."

"Alright, I believe it," I say while shrugging. "As ridiculous as it sounds."

"Good to have you on board," Benji jokes and gives me a slap on the back.

"How exactly are they going to get access to the maintenance tunnels from the sewers though?" Torben asks.

"There's a sealed off part of the sewer which leads to the tunnels. I guess the people that built the warehouse connected the tunnels to the sewers, as a sort of escape hatch."

"Sealed off is never good," I say. "Was anyone guarding the entrance?"

"This is where the intelligence of Ukathan's men shines again," Benji laughs. "They're not guarding it."

I let out a snort of a laugh and the rest of the team joins in. They really aren't the smartest, are they?

"Ukathan knows about it, but I'm pretty sure he thinks that no one is going to find this place, seeing as it is underground and the only way to access it is through either the front door or the maintenance tunnels."

I shrug. "Well, I welcome everything that makes this easier for us with open arms."

"Being able to enter the facility without needing to slip by guards makes this a hell of a lot easier," Garrett nods.

Benji puts both his hands on the table and leans forward. "Once we're inside and in the maintenance tunnels, we'll need to either take out the repair crew Ukathan has hired by killing them or by knocking them out, it's our choice really."

"Whatever works better," I shrug. "How large are the service tunnels?"

"They're not awfully big," Benji begins to explain. "There's two floors, one that gives us access to the walkways three hundred meters off the ground and another on the bottom floor."

"We need to get access to the bottom floor tunnels I assume?"

"Precisely. Garrett and I saw two elevators heading down to the bottom floor, but that may prove to be inconvenient."

"No stairs?" I joke, which gets a few chuckles out of the group.

"No stairs, but there is an out of service elevator at the far end of the top floor maintenance tunnels."

I begin to manipulate the holographic image of the factory with my omni-tool and zoom in on the elevator shaft. "So we climb down the service ladder-"

"We rappel down the shaft," Benji interrupts.

"Jesus Christ, we're doing what?!" I exclaim loudly.

"We rappel down the chute, you've done it before right?"

I have rappelled down a wall before, but that was at a rock climbing gym that I used to go to. This is entirely different.

"I have," I begin to answer. "But I don't know how to set up a rappel system."

"Don't worry, I'll set one up for you when the time comes."

I nod and begin to listen to the rest of the plan, with Garrett and Benji trading the role of speaker between themselves. To be quite honest with you, it sounds like a pretty sound plan, at least for now it does. After we've rappelled down the elevator shaft, we'll have to sneak through the container maze and make it to the vehicle bay. Why the vehicle bay? It's got the only entrance to the safe house that isn't a front door. A small series of corridors lead to what seems to be the maintenance room of the safe house, and from there we need to get to the lab… which is on the fourth floor. Ukathan has a few scientists working on replicating the Flex strand for him, and he's keeping them heavily guarded. Destroying the lab should destroy the Flex.

Now comes the hard part, and that's sneaking out. After destroying the lab, everything and everyone is going to be on high alert, and that means getting back to the elevator shaft will be almost impossible. Benji assured me it was doable, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Tarvus also gave us another objective, and it requires explosives… a whole bag of them. Examining the safe house further, Tarvus pointed out some weak points in the metal and concrete structure that could, if destroyed, make the tower collapse. It won't only be a vital distraction, it'll likely put the warehouse out of commission for a while.

After the briefing, Benji gave me the equipment I needed for the mission, which was a climbing rig, a three hundred meter coil of rope, stun grenades and a bag of explosive charges.

Tarvus flew us to the sewer entry point in the skycar and from there, we were left to our own devices. Well, the rest of the team could see what we could see over our helmet feed, but I still don't consider it that much help.

* * *

The sewer smell is absolutely terrible, and it gets worse the further we go into them. I'm breathing mostly through my mouth and yet I still have the smell of shit in my nose. I asked Benji if my helmet had any way of turning off the olfactory sensors, but much to my dismay he told me that the helmet did in fact not have any way of doing that.

"How far is it until we get to the maintenance tunnels?" I ask with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

"About five hundred meters or so," Benji replies flatly. "You'll just have to get used to the smell."

"I'm trying my best here," I say, really focusing on not breathing through my nose.

We keep walking in a comfortable silence until we reach a fork in the road, with one path being crudely boarded up with wood, rocks and whatever people could find here in the sewers, or whatever they brought with them.

"This is the place," Benji says while examining the hole on the right side of the circular tunnel. The lighting here is as crap as in the residential district so we have to use night vision.

"Turn off your night vision, the maintenance tunnels have lights like a fucking Christmas tree."

I promptly turn off my night vision and squeeze through the opening after Benji, who I follow down the slight bend for a minute before reaching a door. Benji walks up and just as he is about to open the door via a keypad situated on the right of the door, we both hear voices on the other side of the door.

"Down, now."

It's a good thing that the hallway is barely lit, as it lets us slide into the shadows right beside the door just as it slides open. A human and a turian in jet black armor walk out. On the right side of their chest is a white logo. From here, it kind of looks like a large _'H'_, but I'm not quite sure from this distance.

"Since when do we have to guard this fuckin' thing?" the human asks as he checks the sewer walkway in front of him.

"Hey you heard the boss, he's afraid of someone coming in and destroying his precious shipments," the turian replies.

"Yeah well, no one is going to get in here anyway, no one knows where it is!"

The turian looks around. "You never know, someone could be watching us right now."

My body goes absolutely rigid and I hold my breath. I dare not move a muscle right now.

The human in the jet black armor raises his gun and scans the area in front of him, when the turian suddenly turns to the human and shouts _'BOO' _as loud as he can. The human jolts and yelps, but then turns to the turian with what seems to be an angry look.

"Hey fuck you man!" he exclaims. "You scared the shit out of me!"

The turian gives off a flanging chuckle, shaking his head. "That was the point, gotta keep myself entertained for the shift."

"Well, do it some other way next time," the human says in an annoyed tone. "I don't need adrenaline rushes while I'm guarding a sewer.

I let out my breath slowly and look to Benji, who's on the other side of the tunnel. He has his gun drawn and is pointing towards the two guards. I nod and un-holster my gun, which is suppressed and aim at the human. I look to Benji again and he starts doing a three second countdown with his left hand.

_3. _Aim for the head and keep it there.

_2._ Keep a steady hand.

_1. _Hold your breath.

'_Bang'_

I press the trigger and with a quiet _'thud'_ the round leaves the barrel and sails through the air for a split second. The impact is sudden and the man didn't even see it coming, neither did the turian. Both instantly collapse with holes in the back of their head and Benji and I emerge from the shadows.

"Nice shot," Benji says and holsters his pistol again. "Move the bodies into the corner."

I nod reluctantly and pick up the human by the arms. Turns out that the logo on his chest is in fact an '_H'_ with a small '_s'_ in the bottom space between the large letter. I wonder what it means. I don't want to look at the bullet hole that is adorning his face, so I close my eyes and place him in the corner I was crouching in a few moments earlier. I ended another life, and I'm not feeling a thing. That's five now.

Benji walks up to the door and it whooshes open by itself. He pulls his gun and turns to me.

"Now comes the hard part," he says and motions me to follow him with his head. I pull my gun and quickly follow suit and I am met by a brightly light metallic hallway. Benji and I stand in the hallway for a few strained seconds, checking our surroundings. There's doors leading all the way down the hallway which leads down a stairwell at the end of it.

"Nothing to worry about here Dave, these rooms aren't in use. We need to start being careful once we get down the stairs," Benji says over his shoulder and begins to walk down the long, inclined hallway towards the stairs.

"Where exactly is the maintenance staff located?" I ask quietly.

"There's signs pointing to the office where they work," Benji replies.

"Are they civilians?"

"Yeah, whoever finances Ukathan hired them from a local repair company."

"Then we take them out non-lethally," I say.

"Are you sure? Killing them would be mu-"

"I am not killing civilians," I say resolutely. "Unless they pull a gun on me. Unarmed repairmen are not a threat."

"Okay, you take the lead on that then," Benji shrugs. "I don't mind not killing for once."

"Have you ever killed a civilian before?" I ask and Benji looks over his shoulder.

"Only accidentally," he sighs. "When they were caught in the crossfire. But on Chalkhos, I don't really class anybody as a civilian. Everyone is armed on this planet, and everyone is dangerous. I've seen kids kill someone in the residential district before."

"So if the repair crew decides to fight back, we kill them?"

"Yeah. A threat's a threat, no matter how they look, what their profession is or how old they are." Benji nods.

"Alright, I can live with that," I agree, when suddenly the sound of a door whooshing open behind us causes Benji and I to turn around.

A man walks out with a satisfying grin on his face, and he's doing up his belt. He's got a gun strapped to his right thigh and a black jacket with the logo I saw on the two guards with the jet black armor.

He hasn't noticed us yet.

"I'll be back tomorrow, _'honey'_," he yells into the room with a sadistic smile on his face. He puts emphasis on the word honey, making it sound like an insult. He turns to walk down the hall, which is right where we're standing. He jolts back and scrambles for his gun. He doesn't reach it in time and Benji and I both squeeze the trigger at the same time. Our bullets impact at the same time a red quarter sized hole forms in the man's head and heart, with a red splatter of blood shooting out the back of his head and landing behind him.

His head reels back and he crumples to the floor with a loud clang. I turn to Benji.

"I thought you said there wasn't going to be anyone in this corridor until _after_ we get down the stairs," I say in an annoyed tone.

Benji begins walking towards the door the dead man walked out of.

"Yeah, I didn't expect someone to be here either. Unforeseeable circumstances, you know?"

I keep my eyes peeled and look down both sides of the hall while slowly following Benji into the room. As we both enter the room, I close the door and turn around, and what I see in front of me takes me by surprise.

This room is completely empty, save for a dingy old mattress laid on the ground. But the décor of the room doesn't surprise me, it's who is lying on the mattress. On the mattress in front of Benji is a woman, no older than twenty five curled up in a ball and quietly sobbing to herself. She's not wearing any clothes. I know what happened here, and it makes me sick already.

I carefully walk over to the woman and kneel beside her. Benji stands beside me, but has his attention towards the door, watching if anyone might pop out to ambush us.

"Are you hurt?" I ask carefully, but the woman doesn't reply. She looks up at me for a split second and then she closes her eyes again.

"Listen, I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help," I say soothingly. "I'm John Marston, and this is my friend Gordon Freeman."

Benji looks to me and I'm expecting a confused expression behind his helmet, but he catches on rather quickly and nods in understanding before turning back towards the door. I'm not going to tell people I don't know my name, even if they're in a state like this. The right amount of credits can buy you anything here.

"You're not one of them, are you?" the woman says quietly, and I shake my head.

"No, we're not," I reply. "You're free to go if you want, there's an exit into the sewers not far from here."

The woman looks up at me with wet eyes. "This isn't some sort of trick?" she asks in a shaky voice.

"No, it's not." I look to Benji, who nods.

"You're free to go, the person that did this to you is dead."

"Good riddance too." I add, and the woman seems to loosen her grip on the legs that she held closely to her chest.

"Gordon, take the leather jacket and pants off of the body and bringem' here," I say in a neutral tone. "Shoes too."

Benji nods and opens the door and begins to take the pants, shoes and jacket off of the body. After a few minutes of silence, he walks back into the room and hands me the clothes. I place them carefully beside the woman and stand up.

"Once you exit the door, turn left and keep going until you reach a door at the end of the hallway, once through the door, you'll be in a sewer. Keep heading straight through the blocked part of the tunnel and then keep heading straight. After that, take the third right and after that the second left. You'll be out in the open in no time. How you get back to Aerinus though, that's up to you."

"T…thank you," she says in a less shaky voice now.

"No problem miss…?"

"Emily C…Carter," she stutters.

"Well Ms. Carter, we'll be on our way now," Benji says in a friendly tone and I nod in agreement. "I hope no one will give you any more trouble now."

Benji and I walk out of the room and I pull my gun again. We head down the corridor once more, but now we're periodically checking behind us.

"That guy got what was comin' to him," I say in an angry tone. "I know this is a criminal world, but I haven't seen someone stoop so low before."

"The guy was a cunt, that's all I know," Benji agrees. "But shit like this happens all the time on Chalkhos, and it usually happens in a place where no one can stop it. Trust me, I'd kill any rapist I'd see walking the streets of Chalkhos."

"Agreed."

With that, another silence overtakes the both of us for the next minute or so, but it's a comfortable silence. This hallway is extremely long and monotonous, and while it declines downwards at a fairly shallow angle, everything looks the absolute same.

"Why isn't anyone using these rooms?" I ask while looking at the hundredth door passing us.

"I have no idea," Benji replies. "My guess is that no one sees the importance in the maintenance tunnels save for the repair team that's stationed here. We heard what the guards said about this place."

"I guess, and maybe no one wants to work in close proximity to a sewer," I add, which causes Benji to chuckle.

"Trust me, no one does. And whatever the reason is for this part being deserted, it helps us and I'm okay with that."

"Can't argue with that logic," I say as we reach the top of the staircase, where we promptly stop moving.

"Alright, this is where shit hits the fan… somewhat at least."

I look down the long flight of stairs. "Find the main office, take out the repair crew and any guards in the area, and then rappel down to the bottom floor," I list out loud.

"That's the gist of it," Benji chuckles. "Lethal force recommended, unless targets are unarmed."

"Got it."

"Well what're we waiting for? The Flex won't blow up by itself!"

I laugh quietly and let Benji take the lead down the stairs. He knows this place better than I do. After about two minutes of walking down the flight of stairs quietly, we reach the bottom.

We are met by a banked corridor that leads in both directions. It's brightly lit but dead quiet, save for the typical humming of the lights on the ceiling. The walls themselves are a light grey color and the floor is made of a darker metal, which gives this place a very sterile feel.

"Where to now? Wandering the halls isn't the best of ideas with guards running around the place," I say while checking both sides of the corridor.

"There's not going to be guards here until the two dead guards shift's end," Benji replies.

"Why were there guards anyway? You said Ukathan didn't bother with having anyone guard the sewer entrance."

"Those weren't Ukathan's thugs, their armor is a different color, and they have a different logo on theirs."

"Oh, well then it might be the thugs of that secret financer," I muse.

"That's what I was thinking. These guys are set up way too well for the likes of Ukathan. He runs his business on fear, not discipline."

"Which way are we heading?" I ask, changing the subject. As much as I like talking with Benji, this isn't the best time, what with us being in a large hallway after all.

"Right," he answers and begins walking down the hallway. I follow suit and fall into step a meter or so behind him. I'm periodically checking behind me to see if we're not being followed. As easy as this has been for now, sneaking around somewhere you're not supposed to be has always given me somewhat of an adrenaline rush. The fear of being caught keeps someone on their toes and this is no exception. The only thing different from sneaking somewhere in my time is the guarantee that you will be shot if you're caught here. And trust me, I don't wanna get shot.

We come to a three way crossroad and promptly stop. Benji looks around the corner and instantly recoils his head.

"Three of those guards, down the hall facing away from us. Sneak by or take out?"

"Take out, they'll be less of a problem later on if we do," I reply whilst checking my weapon.

"How're we going to go about it? Three are tough to take out, and by the looks of it they have shield generators."

"Any way we can distract them?"

Benji peeks around the corner again. "I can overload the terminal that's next to them, that'll get their attention off of the hallway they're in, maybe they'll even send someone to get an engineer."

"Sounds good, but you need to scan the terminal first to be able to hack it," I say.

"I know, and I've already done that," Benji replies smugly.

"What, how?"

"I linked the scanning program into my helmet, letting me scan what I look at."

I whistle in amazement. "That's pretty fuckin' cool."

"You bet your ass it is."

"I'll keep watch, you hack," I state while looking behind me. "Just make it quick, I'm paranoid when I'm out in the open like this."

If you're wondering how we can have a normal conversation in a place as quiet as this, I can explain. Benji and I are talking to each other over a comm channel and when we talk, we disable the setting that broadcasts our voice to the outside world. As long as we talk in a normal tone, you won't hear a thing. If you want to broadcast your voice, you just have to press a button on the omni-tool and it switches back instantly.

"Don't get your panties all up in a bunch, I got this," Benji laughs while frantically typing away on his omni-tool. "This is only a level two encryption anyway."

"Less talk, more hack," I usher on. "If anyone even decides to take a stroll down this hallway, we're done."

My pleas are answered when I hear the sound of something beginning to spark around the corner. Benji steps back and lets me take a peak around the corner, which I do. The terminal is going haywire as all three guards take their attention off of the hallway. I can hear them faintly bickering until one of them runs off and two are left standing looking back down the hallway.

"Good job," I say to him and slowly begin to walk around the corner. I holster my pistol and take out my knife. This needs to be quiet, so it'll be quiet. I motion for Benji to follow me and he does. We're slowly creeping up on the two guards, one batarian and another one human.

Then something doesn't go according to plan.

The human guard turns around and rears back in shock, and I freeze in shock. I can't move a single muscle in my body as he un-holsters his pistol and aims it at me. I'm not close enough to stab him. At the same time, the batarian turns around and stares at Benji with a shocked expression. Everything starts to move in slow motion as I see Benji besides me flip the knife so he's grabbing it by the tip. He throws the knife towards the batarian and it lodges itself in his windpipe. He drops his gun and both of his hands move up to his neck, right where the knife is lodged. I can hear him make a wheezing noise before a shot goes off.

A shot that hits me in my left shoulder.

My shields flare up and the shot deflects, which is enough to wake me from my deep freeze. I instantly realize what kind a situation this is, and decide to go all in. I throw the knife as well, but I don't flip it before doing so. The knife flies through the air in some form of wobbly way, not nearly as clean a throw as Benji's was. It hits his target anyway, and I mentally let out a sigh of relief that could've been classed as an _'f5'_ Tornado.

The knife sticks itself into the human's right shoulder and he instantly drops his gun. This gives me the upper hand and I pull my gun and shoot at the guard. After four shots, his shields drop and I land my fifth shot on his heart, making him fall to the floor. That was way too close for comfort.

The hallway descends into silence again and Benji and I are left in somewhat of a stunned daze for a few seconds.

"That was way too fucking close for comfort," he grunts before turning to me. "Do me a favor, don't freeze up again, it almost killed the both of us."

I don't say anything and nod. Trying to argue is not going to change anything.

We don't get a moments respite and suddenly hear the sound of someone sprinting down the hall where the third guard went to get the engineer, and sure enough, the engineer and the third guard come sprinting around the corner. They come to a dead stop a few meters in front of us and the guard aims his assault rifle at us, while the engineer's eyes widen in terror.

The guard puts a hand to his ear. He's calling for reinforcements.

Before I can properly assess the situation, Benji and I start shooting at the guard, and he drops after a few shots. That just leaves the engineer.

"Stay put, and you won't die," I say carefully, lining up a shot. "I don't want to kill a civilian, but I will if you run."

The engineer slowly raises up his hands. "O…okay, I won't run," he stutters. "I have a wife and kids, just please don't kill me."

"We won't," Benji speaks up. "Tell us two things: Is anybody else on their way here, and where is the maintenance office?"

The guard gulps audibly. "No… no one heard the shot but us," he begins to reply. "And the maintenance office is th… that way."

The engineer points in the direction he came from. "Fifteenth door on the left. It h… has a sign on it."

"Are there any more of these guards up here?" I ask while slowly walking towards the scared engineer.

"Two more, by the elevators," he replies.

I nod. "Okay, thank you for your help, but what I'm about to do to you will hurt when you wake up."

"Wh… wha-"

I send my right fist sailing into his jaw and with that, I knock out the engineer.

I open the large pack that I brought with me that contains everything I need and take out a carbon zip-tie and tie up his hands behind his back.

"No civilian casualties," I mutter to myself and look back to Benji. "Let's keep moving."

Benji nods. "My thoughts exactly, but I want to reiterate what I said. Do not freeze up again, that's not like you."

I raise up my hands apologetically. "The situation just startled me, is all."

"Let's hope," he shrugs and gives me a pat on the back while walking past me. "Let's go _Frosty,_ we don't want to keep the Flex waiting."

"Frosty?"

"That's what I'm gonna call you from now on," he chuckles. "It's catchy."

"Whatever," I groan. "A nickname's a nickname."

We begin walking down the hallway towards the maintenance office. Once there, Benji signals me to stack up on the left side of the door.

"Stun grenades. Two should be enough to blast them unconscious. You got enough zip-ties?"

"Depends on how many there are in the office," I answer. "I have eight left."

Benji nods and brings up his omni-tool to start overriding the door. "That'll do."

It takes about a minute for him to have full control of the door. That gives me time to think. I was just fucking shot. If I didn't have my shield, I would've compromised the mission. But more importantly, if I had given him more time to aim, I would've died. No ifs no buts… I would've died. Why the hell did I freeze up there? What on earth made me stop dead in my tracks in shock? I mean, the human guard didn't look scary at all. Maybe it was me just not 'expecting the unexpected', which I should've done on a mission like this.

This has made me realize something. I can't fuck up. I won't get a retry here, I just have one life and I can't fuck up… or I die. Goddamnit, it's situations like these that act as a kind of revelation for a person like me. If I treat this like a game, which I basically have at this point, I'll die. I groan internally. Why did I have to stark overthinking things now… on a mission like this?

"Got it, get ready to throw."

Benji snaps me out of my thoughts and I pull the pin on my grenade, waiting for him to open the door.

"On my mark, ready?" Benji says with his grenade ready to throw. I nod and Benji opens the door

All I hear is a few confused noises from inside the room before I toss my grenade through the door. Those confused noises turn into panicked ones as they realize that someone just threw grenades into the office.

After about two seconds, the grenades explode with a loud _'snap'_ and the panicked yells die down instantly.

"Ladies first," Benji jokes and signals me to enter the room. I raise my gun and walk into the room, scanning my surroundings. All six people in the room are knocked out, and I quickly get to work on restraining them so they won't get in the way anymore.

I see a large pipe going across the wall and decide that that's the best place for restraining them. It's at about waist height, and if I sit them up against the wall, I can zip-tie their hands up over their heads and to the pipe.

"Help me with this," I say to Benji, who's also entered the room. "Sit them up against the wall and tie up their hands like this."

I grab the first engineer I see and prop him up against the wall and restrain him. Benji quickly gets to work on the second one and I restrain the third engineer. After about five minutes, all six civilians are restrained.

"That should put them out of commission," Benji says while rubbing his hands together. "Now let's get going to the elevator."

"Ladies first," I smirk at Benji, who shakes his head.

"That's my line Frosty. Ever heard of plagiarism?"

"I have, and I don't care," I laugh as we walk back into the hallway.

"Come on, elevator's this way," Benji motions further down the hall. "We take the next left, then the second right, and that'll be where the elevators are."

"Lead the way."

After a few minutes, we arrive at the turn that leads to the elevators. Benji peeks around the corner again.

"There's the two guards, I say we take em' out with a stun grenade," he says. "How many do you have left?"

"Three," I reply.

"Alright, toss one."

I nod and pull the pin on the grenade I was holding in my hand, and I roll it down the hallway after three seconds. The grenade goes off and I hear the frantic screaming of one of the guards. Benji and I promptly turn the corner with our guns raised and drop the two stunned guards with a few shots each.

Benji holsters his gun and walks towards the elevator shaft furthest away from us.

"This should be the one," he says while pushing the doors open. After some struggle he gets them open fully and looks down into the three hundred meter abyss. "Yep, this is the one."

I take the large pack from my shoulder and open it. I take out the climbing harness and the rope and lay it out in front of me. Benji has done the same.

"Well Frosty, I hope you're ready because this is going to get a lot more interesting," he says in a happy tone.

I chuckle nervously. I'm not ready for this, not at all. This is where shit hits the fan with wind speeds up to five hundred miles per hour. I fuck up now, Benji and I are dead. Period

"Ready as I'll ever be," I reply and look to Benji, who is putting on his harness already.

Here goes nothing.

* * *

_Surprise! The infiltration mission is two chapters long! I decided to split it up, because if I didn't I'd have a chapter that'd be over 16k words long. I like my chapters at around 7-8k words and I especially like getting viewers excited for the next part of the mission. With me splitting this mission up, I'm adding some more suspense to things. Will David and Benji succeed? You'll have to wait to find out in the next chapter!_

_I hope you guys like the way that I tried to explain how hacking works in my story and if you have any questions, criticism or feedback about it, let me know!_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter and like always, I'd love to hear from you guys! Whether it be a PM or a review telling me what you like and didn't like about the chapter, it doesn't matter! Feedback helps me improve as a writer. _

_Anyway, see you guys next time for another chapter of Reduced Mass._

_Cheers!_

_David_


	10. And Straight Through To Hell

_Hey everyone! Welcome back to part two of chapter 8 of Reduced Mass. Last time around, Tarvus and the team planned to break into a batarian merchant's warehouse to destroy a potent new strand of a psychoactive drug called 'Flex'. Turns out the warehouse is exponentially bigger than the team expected, but they sent David and Benji to infiltrate it anyway. Something rather fishy is in the air though, as it seems that the batarian merchant is funded by someone keeping to the shadows, and Tarvus wants to find out who it is._

_The first part of the mission was fairly easy compared to what's about to come, as there were only a few guards in the maintenance tunnels, and now David and Benji need to sneak past dozens of guards, security mech's, snipers and varren. How will the mission go? You'll have to read to find out! The warehouse is huge, so anything could happen at any time. But the even bigger question still resides: Will they get out alive?_

_David is also having some issues with his sudden realization of his mortality. Chalkhos is taking a toll on his mind, and all the pressure that's being put on him isn't exactly healthy for a man's conscience. He wants nothing more than to leave this place, but he knows he can't for another couple of months. He doesn't like the path he is going down, but he's not stopping it either, so we'll see where it leads him._

_Now, without further ado, let's get right back into the action!_

* * *

"Harness is secure, you should be good to go."

Fucking hell, I'm not ready for this, not at all. It's bad enough that this elevator shaft is three hundred meters high, but what's even worse is what's waiting for Benji and I once we open the elevator doors. Dozens if not hundreds of armed guard that'll kill me on site, security mech's that'll kill me on site and varren that'll kill me on site. This is the epitome of an infiltration mission. One wrong move, I die, and that's making me uneasy. Hell, even the elevator shaft could kill me, what with it being three hundred meters deep.

Before actually putting on the harness, I looked to my side and saw a window into the warehouse and where we needed to go. It didn't make me feel any better about this. Every single person that I could see on the ground was just a small dot from where I was situated, but there were too many to count from here. I saw a bunch of larger things moving around, which turned out to be YMIR mech's upon closer inspection, and that made my heart skip a beat. And that wasn't even the half of it! The tower itself had snipers lined up on the top floor! As if sneaking by companies of people that are going to kill me weren't enough.

"What do you mean, should be?" I ask while looking at my harness. "That isn't making me feel any safer about it."

"Unforeseeable circumstances, remember?" Benji asks while tying his rope to the railing situated across from the elevator shaft.

"Whatever, I just hope I don't die," I wave a hand through the air, dismissing Benji's question, which I'm pretty sure was meant to be rhetorical. I'm in no mood to discuss whatever could go wrong right now.

Benji walks to my rope and checks to see if it's tied to the railing correctly. After a few seconds he turns back and walks to the elevator doors that he pried open a few minutes earlier.

"Drop your coil of rope down the shaft," Benji orders, and I walk up beside him where I set down my coil of rope and untie the part where it's wrapped around itself. Three hundred meters of rope are heavier than I thought, and the coil is fucking bulky. Once I've untied the knot holding the coil together, I set it on its side so I can just drop it down the shaft.

"You sure this won't make too much noise?" I ask Benji, who shakes his head.

"No, the sound won't be loud enough to make it past the elevator door, it'll just reverberate around the shaft," he answers.

"That reminds me, is the elevator door down there the only way into the warehouse?" I ask.

"Yes, why?" Benji tilts his head to the side slightly.

"What happens if there's guards in front of them?"

Benji chuckles. "Let's hope there's not."

I groan. "You know that doesn't answer my question."

"The power of improvisation," Benji does an over dramatic sweep with his left hand while speaking with a voice that one would usually find on an infomercial salesman.

I let the coil of rope drop down the shaft, and after waiting for at least sixty seconds to make sure it's properly uncoiled, I strap my harness onto the rope. Benji has done the same.

"Let's just go," I say monotonously. "The sooner we get down the shaft, the sooner we can get to the Flex."

"That's the spirit Frosty!" Benji says happily. "Now we're going to do this the old fashioned way. We get a good foothold on the part of the shaft we're on, I go first and you follow me. We're going to be moving down with small jumps."

I've done this before, so this shouldn't be that hard. Only difference is the height. I've never rappelled down three hundred meters before.

"The harness stops you from falling, as it locks up if you are, so you gotta move the 'descender' down each time you get a little further down." Benji explains further. "If you have all that down, we should be good."

I check the harness one last time to see if it's properly set up, which it is. "Ready when you are."

"Wait!" Benji exclaims, which makes me jump slightly. "I forgot something!"

Benji stands up and walks to his pack and starts cramming around in it. After a few moments, he protrudes two… pasta machines from the pack?

"The hell are those things?"

"A fast ticket out of here," Benji answers in a satisfied tone.

"Explain," I say whilst eyeing the contraption in front of me.

"They're high-speed rope retractors. We attach them to the ground and feed the rope through it, and with the press of a button, the machine pulls our ropes upwards at around forty kilometers an hour, getting slower as we reach the top."

He opens up the machine and sets it to the ground, and with a large clang, the machine is in place. Huh, so it's magnetic. Benji takes a part of his rope and sticks it in the machine, which has two metal cylinders that are indented for more grip and closes one of those cylinders on top of the other. They lock together and Benji does the same with my rope.

"Quickest way of escaping the warehouse back through the sewers," Benji says as he locks my rope retractor into place. "Now were ready to go."

"Lead the way."

And with that, Benji walks forward and stops at the beginning of the shaft, where he turns around and slowly leans back until he slowly begins to walk down the shaft with small steps.

"Your turn!" he shouts and I begin to do the same. To be honest, hanging in the air by a rope hasn't always been a hobby of mine, and it sure as hell isn't one now that I have a three hundred meter drop below me. I slowly begin to inch my way down the first part of the shaft after I started to lean back, and this is the part I hate the most. This one foot at a time business is too tedious for my liking. I look down to Benji and see that he's about three meters below me waiting for me to give him the go, which I do by sticking out my thumb after I'm not able to see the floor of the maintenance tunnels anymore.

"Good to go," I say and Benji nods.

"Alright, I don't know how fast you are at rappelling, but always stay at least three meters above me."

"Got it."

Benji pushes himself from the wall and the rope begins to move through the descender. After about six meters, the momentum of the push brings him back to the wall of the elevator shaft. Right, my turn.

I push myself off of the wall and begin to quickly slide down the rope that I'm letting slip through my gloved hand slowly. After a few meters, I tilt the descender in a way that the rope stops moving through it and the momentum brings me back to the wall… forcefully.

I smash against the wall legs first and my left leg twists in a painful way. I let out a painful groan. This is just fucking great.

"Everything alright up there Frosty? You made quite a crash landing there," Benji looks up and sees me dangling by my rope.

"I'm pretty sure I just sprained my ankle," I grunt. "We got any painkillers?"

"We do, but you'll have to make your way down the shaft like this. I can't reach my pack right now."

"Alright, I might be a little slower though," I sigh as I press my feet against the wall again. I wince the second I put pressure on my left leg. This is going to be painful.

"Don't slow us down too much, guard duty usually lasts six hours, so the guards we killed up top are going to be missed at some point in time," Benji says offhandedly.

I sigh. "I'll try my best, if I'm too slow, just shoot me."

"Noted."

Damn, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Benji will actually kill me if I slow him down too much. For a second there I forgot that I'm on Chalkhos, I gotta remind myself that I shouldn't do that.

Right it's time to try this again. I push off the wall again, albeit a little less forcefully now. I keep my descender at a tilt where I'm not sliding down the rope at high speeds, and when I stop my descent, my feet plant themselves on the wall again, this time a loft softer. Pain shoots up my left leg as it touches down.

"Ffffuck!" I yell. "This isn't fun anymore."

"Your fault Frosty, you gotta fight through it."

"I know, I know," I snap. "I didn't say I was giving up."

Benji rappels down a few meters again, and I follow suit once he's planted his feet on the shaft wall again. Pain shoots through my leg again as I touch down, and I internally curse my stupidity. This is what I get for rushing things.

My ears suddenly snap to attention.

"Benji. Stop," I say in a hushed tone. "I heard something from above."

Benji freezes and looks up at me. "Are you sure?" he says, and I nod.

I pull my gun and aim it upwards, straightening my legs in the process so I'm standing on the wall at a one hundred and eighty degree angle.

"Are you sure you're not imagining things?" Benji asks skeptically. "We got everyone up there."

"I thought so too," I say. "But the maintenance tunnels are huge, so we might've missed someone."

Benji grunts. "As much as I hate to admit it, you make a good point."

"Switch to helmet communications," I say while aiming upwards at the elevator door. I bring up my omni-tool and switch to our private channel.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," I say. "It sounds like footsteps up there."

"It's probably nothing," Benji mumbles, trying to calm me down. Actually, it sounded like he was mostly trying to calm himself down.

Benji and I descend into a strained silence and begin listening for any suspicious noise. Sure enough, I begin to hear a faint sound of someone walking through the maintenance tunnels… and the sound is getting louder.

"There's someone in the tunnels, and they're coming this way," I hiss. "We need to get back up top. Now."

Benji and I say nothing for at least thirty seconds, and in that time the sound stops. Benji lets out a sigh of relief, but I remain rigid, aiming at shaft entrance about twenty-five meters above me. Benji rappels down a few more meters before looking at me.

"Frosty, let's get going," he says in a commanding tone. "We don't have all day."

"Just give me another minute," I grumble.

"David," he says rigidly. "There's nothing up th-"

My heart skips a beat as I see a salarian peaking over the edge and into the shaft. He scans the area quickly before spotting us.

"They're here!" he shouts. "Sound the ala-"

Before he can finish his sentence, I pull the trigger. His unshielded head has no chance against the mass effect round that I've ejected from my gun, and within seconds, the bullet punches its way through his brain. A greenish cloud shoots from the back of his head and for a second, it looks like he's going to fall backwards.

He doesn't.

The dead salarian slowly tips forward… right into the shaft. Time slows down for a second time today as the shock of the situation grips me like a vice and adrenaline begins to rocket through my system. This time though, I don't freeze up.

"Benji, hug the wall!" I shout through the comm channel. I let my feet slide off the walk and my legs are pulled down by gravity. My harness stops my fall and I slam face first into the wall of the shaft. By face first, I mean face first. My helmet takes the brunt of my force and my legs follow soon after by slamming into the wall as well. I'm left in a slight daze and the force of the hit has made my visual receptor go somewhat fuzzy. Good thing I was wearing a helmet at all though, otherwise I'd have knocked myself out.

The salarian body sails by me and right as he does, I shoot my gaze down to Benji. He's down the same thing that I did, albeit a little less violently. I let out a sigh of relief. He's not dead.

"What the fuck was that?!" Benji yells.

"We need to get back up there. Now," I dodge the question with an order. "We need to stop them before they set off the alarm!"

Benji thinks for a few seconds. "Rope retractor! Activate your rope retractor!"

My mind is racing with all the possible negative outcomes and ways to die that are looming in this warehouse. My visual receptor is still out of focus and fuzzy and I'm scared out of my mind. I knew Tarvus was in over his head with this plan.

I bring up my omni-tool and begin to search through the programs to see where I can make my rope retractor activate. To no avail.

"I don't have a fucking program!" I shout in a frustrated tone. "They must both be linked to your omni-tool!"

Benji, with his omni-tool already open, begins to furiously type away on his keypad. "They are!" he says. "I just gotta activate them now!"

"Hurry the fuck up!" I shout and keep pointing my gun upwards. I can't see shit clearly that's further away than two meters from me, but I'm going to shoot at any and every outline and moving smudge that I see. Seconds pass as if they were years, and after ten excruciating seconds, I hear a conformation ping from below me.

"I got it! I just have to-"

I block out Benji's cry of success. Something up top has gotten my full attention, and it's making my body run absolutely cold with terror. What I heard was an order someone gave up top. This order may well be the death of me right now.

That order was _"Cut the rope."_

Before I can even blink, my rope stops supporting my weight. It seems like I'm floating in midair for a split second and that's when the realization hits me. I am going to die now. I instantly drop down and begin my rapid descent into the abyss. My life doesn't flash before my eyes, which I expected. I stopped being homesick for my universe weeks ago. I slam my gun onto my leg forcefully as I begin to fall and I close my eyes while I do. I can't believe this is the end of my journey already. I barely survived three months in this universe and I'm already done for. I can cross out any dream I had of joining Shepard in his or her endeavors. An elevator will be the death of me.

I shut my eyes. At least it'll be a quick death.

A death that will have to wait another day. I open my eyes to me being slammed into the elevator wall once again, and this time my left arm takes the brunt of the force. I'm greeted with a sickening snapping sound and I cry out in agony.

"Got you!" Benji shouts.

I look up to see Benji having a firm grip on my right arm. He just saved my life… he caught me mid fall and saved my life.

"Activate the retractor!" I practically shout into his face. I'll have time to thank him later.

Benji brings up his omni tool and holds it over to where I can see it.

"Hold on tight Frosty. Very tightly."

With a small movement of his index finger, he presses the button that activates the retractor above. My stomach gets pushed into my feet as the machine spins to life and launches us upwards at a dizzying speed. I don't think we're going to slow down in time.

The twenty five meters we slowly travelled down are chewed up in seconds and before we know it, we're launched over the edge of the elevator shaft and back into the maintenance tunnels. I'm sent flying across the hallway and into the wall across from the shaft, while Benji made a sudden acquaintance with the roof of the tunnel, leaving a large dent in the metal above.

My left arm takes the brunt of the impact a second time and my nerve endings in my arm begin to feel like they are being burned by a flamethrower. I grunt in pain and sprawl to the floor. Today is not my day.

I manage to take a look down the hall see the outline of a man standing there, completely still. Before I know it, he dashes to the left and disappears out of my line of sight. The adrenaline has completely cancelled out the pain in my left ankle and I try and stand up, only to be kicked smack in the ribs.

"You think you're going to get out of here?" A human voice says mockingly. "Well think again!"

Another kick is sent into my ribs and I fall to the floor again. I look up to see the blurred image of one of the engineers that I restrained in the control room. After that, my attention wanders to Benji, who's lying on the floor motionlessly. Either the force of the impact with the wall knocked him out, or killed him. Both is bad news right about now.

"You think you can just barge in here and tie me up like that?" he shouts "Well, I'll show you what happens when you mess with me!"

I'm picked up off the ground and a knee connects with my helmet, making my video feed completely cut out.

"Fuck. You," I mutter and if I didn't have the helmet on, I'd have tried to spit in his face.

"You'll be begging for your life when I'm done with you, you wait!"

One of the man's feet reels back and slams down on my left arm, which makes me cry out in pain again. My vision is beginning to turn blurry under my helmet. The helmet itself is useless right about now, as all I see is static, and that's not making this any better.

"Are you enjoying this as much as I am?" he jeers. "Cause there's plenty more where that came from!"

The man stomps down on my arm again and I go blind with pain. I let out a chocked cry of pain again and tears begin to form in my eyes. This has gone from bad to worse. Cold sweat is beginning to form on my forehead and my breathing is becoming faster and faster.

The man seemingly puts a hand to his ear to talk to someone.

"Don't sound the alarm, I have the situation under control," he says in a satisfied tone. He turns his attention back to me and claps his hands together.

"You are going to get me promoted!" he exclaims. "When I tell my boss that I took out two assassins by myself, he'll make me a rich man!"

I don't answer. It's taking every fiber of my being to not scream out in pain right now. Now I know what Velor felt like, being as helpless and at the complete mercy of someone else. It feels absolutely terrible.

"I'm going to make your life a living hell," he says evilly. "You'll want nothing more than to die!"

"You first," a voice says from behind the man. A voice that sounds like Benji's

I hear Benji pull the trigger two times and the man that was having fun causing me pain grunts out in pain and drops to the ground. I hear footsteps rush over to me and before I know it, Benji takes off my helmet and stabs a needle into my neck right after. I wince at the pain that the syringe released but seconds later, my body stops panicking and the pain in my arm dies down immediately. After a few seconds, my breathing is back at a normal rate. I look over to the man that was beating me, and he's on the ground moaning in pain with what seems to be two bullet holes in his right leg.

"You alright?" Benji asks.

"I've been better," I cough weakly. "But I'm alright."

Benji nods and takes my right arm and pulls me into a sitting position, after which he grabs me under my shoulder and helps me up.

I slowly begin to move my left arm around, and surprisingly enough, I feel no pain at all. I stomp my left foot into the ground as well and again, I register no pain.

"What the hell did you give me?" I ask while rolling my shoulders backwards.

"Alliance grade painkiller, modified to be stronger of course," he answers.

"How long does it take to wear off?"

Benji thinks for a second before speaking again. "With it being modified… around seven hours," he says while tossing my broken helmet down the elevator shaft.

I nod. "Good, so we can still complete our objective."

I look down at the man with the bullet in his leg and shake my head. "But first, I gotta deal with this goon. I pull my gun and shoot him in both arms, making him cry out in pain.

"Now who's got the upper hand, you cunt?" I ask mockingly. He doesn't answer.

"Come on, first you act all high and mighty and now you're scared?!" I exclaim. The man's eyes widen at the remark. "That's not worthy of a promotion!"

"You can't just kill me! I'm a civilian!" he shouts.

"I stopped caring about that the minute you started beating me," I begin. "Now get up."

Benji walks over and picks the wounded man and makes him get on his knees facing towards the elevator shaft.

"You know those flying lessons that you wanted to force on me and my friend?" I ask, but the man doesn't answer.

"I decided to return those to the sender."

I reel back my right foot and send it flying into the man's back. He tips forward and drops into the three hundred meter deep abyss with a wail of terror being his last words.

"That takes care of that," I say while rubbing my hands together. "Now, let's get back to business."

Benji looks at me and tilts his head. "Are you sure you're fine? You took a hell of a beating just now."

"I'm fine," I lie. I'm not fine at all. I might be jacked up on painkillers now, but that doesn't cancel out the fact that I'm scared out of my mind. Sure, I might not show it, but in a situation like this, I just feel like running away and not looking back. I'm in way over my head.

"Alright," Benji shrugs. "But you need something to cover your face with."

"I don't have anything in my pack that could do that job," I frown. "Maybe I'll find something in the tunnels."

"Alright, well let's go pay a visit to our friends then," Benji says. "The sooner we're done here, the better."

I sigh. I'm really not looking forward to this, and its times like these where I wish I was someplace else.

"By the way," Benji speaks up. "That return to sender line was absolute garbage."

* * *

"You ready for this?" Benji asks as we take up positions beside the door of the maintenance office a second time. We checked back the way we came before coming here, to see if any one of the engineers was walking about. We found nothing so Benji and I came to the conclusion that they were all in the maintenance office, and that's where we are now.

This time though, we're going in with lethal force. I'm not okay with it, but leaving the people up here alive will only cause more problems. My painkillers are now really starting to kick in. I don't know what's in them but it's making me feel really weird. Like I'm in a dream or something, yet I'm awake. I'm still fully aware mentally and physically, but this just feels unreal to me.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I reply. I picked up an assault rifle from one of the dead guards to make this easier for me, and it turns out my suppressor fits onto the barrel of the gun quite well. Maybe they invented universal suppressors in the time I jumped.

"On my mark," Benji says as he takes a stun grenade off of his belt. He begins to mouth out the countdown going from three and once he's done, he opens the door and tosses in the grenade. For a second time today, the grenade goes off in the room and I go in first with the assault rifle. Among the chaos that the grenade caused, I can see some of the engineers stumbling around aimlessly, while others are on the ground and unconscious.

One of the blinded engineers stumbles towards me and I squeeze the trigger of the assault rifle. The short burst punches through his body and he falls to the floor. Benji has come in behind me and has shot another engineer slumped against the wall right by the door. I scope in another engineer and drop him with a short burst as well.

"They're not all here," Benji says as he shoots the last of the stunned engineers. "They're not all here!" he exclaims in frustration and slams his right hand against the wall.

"This is bad," I mutter as I look around the room. We checked most of the maintenance tunnels for them, and I highly doubt that they just vanished into thin air. "This is really bad."

I walk up to a locker that's marked with the _'H'_ that one of the guards had on his armor. It's locked, but after a little persuasion with the butt of the assault rifle, it swings open. To be honest with you, the _'H'_ looks really familiar to me, but I can't place my finger on what or who it belongs to.

I begin to search through the locker and after some digging, I find something that looks like a mask. I begin to turn the fabric over in my hand and sure enough, it's a balaclava. I smile internally at what's imprinted on the front of the mask. On the piece of the balaclava where my mouth and nose are, the white features of a skull adorn the fabric. I put the mask on and it fits snugly in over my face. This should do the trick for now, but I still need something for the eyes.

"We need to find them. Now," I say while walking back to Benji. "Otherwise we can forget getting in to the warehouse at all."

Benji thinks for a few seconds before speaking. "We need another way down to the bottom floor," he mutters. "The elevators won't work."

"What about the engineers that aren't here?" I ask while raising an eyebrow. "We can't just have them run around up here, they'll sound the alarm."

Benji chuckles mirthlessly. "They're probably on the bottom floor now anyway. Besides, if they had the chance to sound the alarm, they would have already do-"

As if things could get any fucking worse!

Right as Benji dismissed the claim of the remaining engineers sounding the alarm, the light of the maintenance tunnels switches to a dark red. The blaring of an alarm begins to resonate in my ears as my facial expression droops and my eyes widen.

"We need to get down there," I say frantically.

Benji seemingly gives me a shocked expression from under the helmet. "Are you crazy, we need to leave!"

He's right, I am crazy, but this is our only chance.

_'__Initiating complex wide lockdown,' _a robotic voice says over the speakers.

"Listen, we won't make it out now anyway," I begin to say. "This is our only chance to get to the Flex, otherwise we won't be able to reach it again."

Benji groans. "I hate it when you're right."

Maybe I'll keep the assault rifle for now, it might come in handy later on.

_'__Security to maintenance tunnels.'_

"We need another way down," Benji says quickly. "And fast."

I don't have a clue on how to get down to the bottom floor. The way I see it, the only plausible way was through the elevator shaft, and that plan failed.

"The walkways," Benji says quietly. "We can use them to get down."

"How?" I ask.

"Explosives."

"We don't have time to explain, just lead the way!" I shout and Benji and I take off running. I don't know where's he going, but this is as good a plan as we've got right now, and I'm not letting myself get captured by these merc's or Ukathan's thugs.

We run by the working elevators and the door to one of them opens. I only catch a glimpse at the guards in jet-black armor before the ones in the front open fire with their assault rifles. The sound takes me completely off guard and I instinctively duck my head down while I sprint around the corner. Good thing the elevators were located at a T-junction, otherwise I'd be dead right now.

"We're almost there!" Benji shouts over his shoulder while sprinting down the hallway. I'm happy Torben tortured me with the training routines, cause if he didn't I'd be winded right about now.

We turn another corner as the guards begin firing down the hallway we're in and the bullets begin to impact just as I turn the corner itself. This isn't going too well. I haven't run this hard in my life before, and I'm doing it with a broken arm and sprained ankle no less. If I survive this, I'll have a story to tell.

"We're here!"

Benji makes a sharp stop and brings up his omni-tool.

"It's a level two, cover me while I open the door!"

I un-holster my assault rifle and clip a fragmentation grenade off my belt. "You want me to what?!"

"Hold them off!" he shouts as he begins frantically typing away on his omni-tool. "Just for a few seconds!"

"Fuck!" I yell angrily and pull the pin on the grenade in my hand. The guards should come around the corner any second now. I decide not to wait any longer and throw the grenade into the hallway that intersects with this one. Right on time too, as one of the clears the corner just as it explodes. The turian guard lets out a painful scream as the shrapnel of the grenade tears off one of his legs and launches him sideways into the wall.

"Hurry the fuck up!" I shout as I unclip another frag grenade off of my belt.

"I'm working on it!" Benji snaps back.

I throw my second and last frag grenade. I flies the same way like the first one, but this time it hits no one. I internally curse as I bring up the assault rifle in a firing position and right on cue, another guard clears the corner. I begin to fire at the guard before he gets a chance to aim at me, and I drop his shields after a few burst of AR fire. The next few shots that connect hit their mark and the guard drops dead to the floor.

Another two guards come running around the corner, but one of them finds cover behind a terminal before I can fire at him. The other isn't as lucky as I manage to drop his shields before he scrambles back behind the corner.

"Hurry. The. Fuck. Up!" I reiterate angrily as the guard behind the terminal pops out and begins firing at me. My shields take a few hits before I dive behind a small outcropping of the tunnel wall.

"Almost there!" comes the frantic reply from Benji.

I stand up and aim out from behind the outcropping, scoping in the guard behind the corner. He peeks out from cover and his shields seemingly haven't come back online yet. A stray shot from my burst hits the human right below his right eye and he drops dead. Benji's shield begins to take hits from the guard that's crouching behind the terminal. I jump forward and into the line of fire right as I activate my omni-tool and I quickly select 'Incinerate' and shoot it towards the batarian behind the terminal. It doesn't hit him but the ground beneath him, which isn't enough to set him alight.

He scrambles out from behind the terminal and dives behind the corner before I can drop him. It's at this moment that something I didn't expect rushes around the corner, and it makes me freeze in shock for a second. Three varren dash around the corner at a high speed and begin to charge towards Benji and me.

I squeeze the trigger and kill one instantly, making him roll over from his sudden loss of muscle support. The second one goes down as well and the dead varren does a front flip before landing on its back. I begin to aim at the third varren.

Then he lunges at me.

I'm knocked completely off my feet and the varren pins me under his paws. He snarls and the stink of his breath makes me want to gag. I throw a punch at the varren as he started to snap at my throat and he rears back before snarling again. He bites down hard on my right shoulder, but I don't feel a thing thanks to the painkillers coursing through my body. I'll feel it later on though.

"Got it!" Benji shouts and turns around, only to see me being mauled by a varren. He un-holsters his gun and sends a bullet into the varren's brain, and it goes limp on top of me. I push him off of me and scramble to my feet. Benji is already on the walkway built right under the roof of the warehouse and before I run in, I unclip my last stun grenade and throw it down the hallway. I'm surprised no guards were shooting at me while I was being mauled by the varren. They're making up for it now though as five of them round the corner and begin shooting. My shields drop and I see two bullets hit me in the stomach.

The stun grenade goes off and the guards reel back in shock, some dropping to the ground unconscious. I dive through the small doorway that Benji got open and immediately closes it behind me.

I activate my omni-tool and administer a load of medi-gel onto my fresh and bleeding bullet and bite wounds. These painkillers are saving my life right now. I still don't feel a thing.

"You alright?" Benji asks as he encrypts the door again.

"Two bullet wounds and a bite wound, I'm fine," I say offhandedly as I get back up. The armor by my right shoulder and stomach has red lines running down the holes. I must look absolutely terrible.

"We'll see when the painkillers wear off," Benji shrugs. "Now follow me."

He's right, I'm probably going to pass out the instant the painkillers wear off. Not to mention that I'm probably bleeding internally. This day just gets better and better. I need medical attention, and fast… but that'll have to wait until I'm back at the shop. If I make it there that is.

"What exactly are we going to do now?" I ask Benji as he calmly walks towards the center of the warehouse. The walkways themselves are set up symmetrically, with a circular platform in the middle of the warehouse. There's seven walkways that connect somewhat symmetrically with the platform in the middle, making it look like a spider web.

"We're taking a ride in the elevator," Benji replies.

"The elevator? What the hell are you talking about?"

"When Garrett and I scouted the warehouse, we did it with these pathways. We found out that that circular platform used to be a large elevator that carried all the platinum to the surface when this was a mine."

"So we ride it down and land on the roof of the tower below us?"

"Landing isn't quite exactly what I had planned," Benji says smugly. "I was thinking we ride it _'through' _the tower roof."

I groan. "You know, I'm surprised that I didn't see this come earlier the way things are going."

Benji chuckles. "Glad you're beginning to think like I am."

"How do we go about doing this then?" I ask as we reach the platform in the middle.

"The walkways are holding up the platform in the middle, and if we sever them from the warehouse wall, we should drop right down."

I shrug. "Whatever, I'm desperate enough to do it. But how do we survive the over two hundred meter drop without breaking ourselves in the process?"

"I'll figure that out when the time comes," Benji says as he hands me four remote charges. "Now hurry up, the guards outside won't take forever in opening those doors. Plant the charges in the middle of the walkways, they're weakest there."

"Got it."

I get to work on planting the remote charges on the walkways. I'm surprised that I'm not doubting Benji's rather shite plan right now. Maybe it's desperation, maybe I'm just going insane or maybe I'm just stupid for going along with this suicidal plan.

* * *

I set down the last charge on the walkway that we came from, and I look up at the door to see sparks shooting out from it. Fuck, they're getting inside. I look at the other doors that the other walkways are connected to and sure enough, sparks start appearing almost simultaneously.

I sprint back to Benji, who's already on the platform waiting for me.

"Whatever your plan of getting us down there is, do it fast, we don't have much time."

Benji points over to the corner of the platform where there's no walkway and it's got what looks like a compartment of some sort.

"Are there seats in there?" I ask, causing Benji to nod.

"Can you believe it took four people to man this thing? And here I thought technology a couple of hundred years ago was advanced!"

Benji opens the door and I see four tilted and padded benches. They don't look like seats to me.

"You call those seats?" I ask skeptically. "These are slanted beds!"

"Slanted beds that'll save our lives!" Benji exclaims. "You wouldn't survive a two hundred meter drop ass first, your spine would shatter. There's enough shock absorbers in this thing to not feel a fifty megaton nuke go off!"

I raise up my hands. "Whatever, let's just go."

Just as I finish my sentence, the doors to five of the walkways open and guards begin to pour in, firing in our direction.

"Go, go, go!" Benji yells as we run for the compartment that holds the seats. I practically jump into the compartment back first as I twisted myself around when I leaped off of the ground. My landing is cushioned by the seats and as soon as Benji is inside, he closes the door.

"Buckle up Frosty, thing is going to be a bumpy ride."

I follow Benji's orders immediately and pull the large safety belt over my body and secure it on the other side of the seat. A nervous knot in my stomach begins to form as I see the guards moving onto the platform throw a small window in the door in front of me.

"Benji, please hurry," I plead as one of the guards mockingly taps on the window that's in front of me. I can't hear what he says but it looks like the human says something along the lines of _'time to die'_. He and four other guards all point their guns at the compartment

"Got it," Benji says and he opens his omni-tool, but not before pressing a holographic button beside him. It's the intercom.

"Have a nice flight guys, I hope you'll enjoy the landing as much as we do."

The guard's expression's change to that of a confused one, but they soon realize that they made a mistake when Benji detonates the seven charges. They begin to scramble back towards the doors but it's too late for them, as it is for us. The explosion seemingly rips through the weak part of the walkway and we're left dangling by the tiny metal support beam at the top of the platform. The sound of metal bending and breaking under pressure is loud enough that it can be heard through the door and after a few seconds the sound stops and we're engulfed in silence.

I look to Benji. "Are you sure this is going to w-"

My stomach gets launched into my brain as the platform begins to plummet to the ground at a dizzying speed. I begin to yell and so does Benji. The adrenaline that is coursing through my body right now and the adrenaline that I used up today in general is enough to last me sixteen lifetimes. It feels like I'm on a drop tower all over again, but it's not over in two seconds.

After free falling for about ten seconds, the bottom of the platform makes contact with the metal tower in the middle of the warehouse and it immediately gives way to the multi ton heavy construct that's encasing us right now. Benji predicted that the platform would crash through the first few floors, but it did more than that… it crashes through all six.

With deafening sounds of metal faltering, cracking, bending and breaking under the force of the platform that's come crashing down on the tower, we cut through the tower like butter, but as soon as we hit the ground, we come to a dangerously abrupt stop. Benji and I are forcefully pressed into our seats and the shock absorbers under us seem to give out under the stress of it all before we can bounce back. The sudden rush of blood into my feet is making my vision all blurry and I begin to feel extremely light headed.

Holy shit, we did it. We destroyed the Flex in the most unconventional way possible. And we survived! I look to Benji but it looks like he's passed out again. We need to get out of here quickly before we're surrounded and this thing becomes out tomb.

"Benji, wake up," I say while nudging him, but he doesn't move.

"Benji come on man, wake up," I repeat, shaking him this time, but he doesn't respond.

I sigh and look out the window. Good, it seems like we fell right through and into the tunnels of the vehicle bay. That'll buy me some time. That and the fact that Benji and I plunged this place straight into a chaotic frenzy. The fire around me makes it look like we dropped straight into hell.

I pull the emergency release hatch of the door and it flies off its hinges. I unbuckle myself and then Benji, laying him on the ground carefully. I shake Benji one more time, but he still doesn't respond. This is not good.

This really isn't good.

* * *

_Mission complete! Benji and David managed to destroy the Flex, now the only thing they have to do is escape. And trust me, escaping this place, even if it's in complete turmoil won't be an easy task. We'll find out more about it next chapter._

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's a little different for a change. The missions thus far have gone pretty well for David and the team, but luck runs out eventually. While the Flex is destroyed, David and Benji are not out of trouble yet._

_Feel free to leave a review telling me what you think about this chapter, I'd love to hear from you guys! _

_P.S: Now that my apprentice ship has started, I'll most likely revert back to my one chapter every week schedule, as I really only have time to squeeze in a major writing session on the weekends. I hope you understand and aren't too upset that the chapters aren't coming quicker. I'm writing as fast as I can with a full schedule!_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time!_

_Cheers!_

_David_


	11. Survival Instincts

_Hey everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of Reduced Mass! Things got intense last chapter as things in the warehouse went completely haywire. Benji and David now find themselves in the middle of the warehouse right in the heart of enemy territory with no real way of getting out. They managed to destroy the Flex but that's just given them bigger problems now that they need to escape with their lives. _

_On another note, Reduced Mass has surpassed the 100 follower mark! I can't thank you guys enough for all your support! When I posted this story, I didn't really expect it to even reach a large audience, I just expected it to fall flat on its face, as I've mentioned before that I usually don't approve of what I write. You guys have shown me that I am capable of writing a good story! I couldn't have done it without you!_

_This A/N is going to be short, as I want to get right back into the action, and I'm thinking you do as well! Let's stop messing around then!_

_P.S.: I'm also going to do what Herr Wozzeck did in his Mass Vexations series, and that's giving you guys a song to listen to while you read the chapter. I hope you enjoy!_

**Winterspell - Two Steps from Hell**

* * *

"Benji, come on."

It's been two minutes, and Benji still hasn't moved. If I wait any longer, one of the hundreds of guards will stumble across the both of us, and with Benji being unconscious and me basically being a walking corpse, that doesn't bode well for us.

Saying that destroying the tower caused a commotion in the warehouse is an absolute understatement. Its absolute hell in here, at least it sounds like absolute hell. Secondary explosions are going off above us, the sirens blaring, people yelling and screaming and the sound of a large fire crackling. To be honest, I don't want to go up there. I'm getting a relative feeling of safety in the tunnels of the vehicle bay, but now's the best time to get out of here. The chaos and carnage up there will help us in getting out somewhat unnoticed. I still can't believe that the platform we rode down on smashed its way through the entire tower! I mean, the tower itself was made of metal and it just got crushed like it was paper!

I definitely have a story to tell the people I meet in the future if I get out of here alive. That reminds me, I really hope Benji isn't dead. He's the only person that I remotely consider a friend in this place. Tarvus is too professional to make friends on Chalkhos, Torben is genetically unable to make friends and I rarely talk to Garret. Benji and he seem to get along pretty well, so he can't be all that bad.

"Benji please don't do this now," I plead while shaking him again. He doesn't stir or move a muscle. Three minutes without air, I need to get him breathing quick or I won't have an ally in this mess anymore. Benji is lying on his stomach, so I open his back and begin rummaging through it. I don't need explosive charges, neither do I need painkillers… not now anyway. There's got to be something in this pack that'll make Benji regain consciousness. Ah, this might help.

I take out another syringe and begin to look at it more closely. It's a different color than the one that's got the painkillers in them. This one is a bright yellow and green capital letters adorn the side of it.

_'__Epinephrine.'_

If my very, very limited medical expertise is correct, and by that I mean DayZ mechanics, an Epi-pen should make an unconscious person conscious. Don't ask me how though, because I have absolutely no Idea.

Right, I'm desperate here so I'm just going to try it.

I kneel down beside Benji and press the button that releases the helmet from the rest of the armor. With a quiet _'hiss'_, I can easily pull the helmet off and I set it down beside Benji's head. The yelling is getting louder up top, staying here any longer than I need to will only make this harder.

I take the syringe and stick it into Benji's neck, pressing the epinephrine through the opening and into his body. I don't know how the hell this is supposed to get somebody conscious again but hey, if it works I'm sure as hell not going to complain. Now the only thing left to do is wait. I take the assault rifle I've been carrying off of my back and begin scanning the area. I have a really bad feeling about staying here, but if Benji doesn't wake up in a few minutes, I'm going to have to leave him if I want to have a chance of even escaping the tunnels of the vehicle bay.

I look to Benji and see him begin to stir, and I let out a sigh of relief. He isn't dead, and we haven't been spotted yet.

"Benji, can you hear me?" I ask while looking down the hall we landed in.

Benji grumbles something inaudibly in response.

"Glad to hear that you're okay," I say.

He slowly gets on his knees and looks around.

"Frosty? How long was I out for?" he asks with a shaky voice while rubbing his head.

"One or two minutes at most," I shrug. "Good thing you had an Epi-pen on you, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten you awake."

Benji groans. He sounds absolutely exhausted. "Where are we?" he asks while looking around.

"Tunnels of the vehicle bay. We're right where the tower _used _to be," I answer.

Benji chuckles. "Right, now I remember."

"You alright on your own, or do you need assistance?"

Benji stands up with helmet in hand and stretches his back, which emits a satisfying cracking sound. He looks to me and puts his helmet on.

"I'm ready to get the fuck out of here Frosty. And the sooner we do that, the better."

"I gotta warn you, it's absolute chaos up there, and I doubt they're going to let the two people that did this just walk out the front door." I say.

"We'll have an easier time getting around unnoticed in the warehouse, but I'm betting that the exits are more than heavily guarded," Benji agrees.

"YMIR mechs?" I ask as I pass Benji, effectively taking point.

"You bet your ass Frosty. Don't worry though, we'll worry about that when the time comes."

"Whatever you say," I shrug. "Let's just get out of the tunnels first, we're right at the impact site, and my guess is that traffic is heaviest here."

"Less talk, more escape," Benji says and slaps me on the back. I begin walking down the hallway and start listening to the commotion up top again. The screaming and yelling is only getting louder and it seems like more and more people are arriving by the second. But why does the screaming sound so feminine? I sure as hell hope that we didn't kill any of the warehouse workers.

I sigh internally.

Who am I kidding, of course we managed to kill some innocent bystanders. Nothing ever happens on Chalkhos without collateral damage. I don't even want to know how many people Benji and I just killed by crushing the tower under us.

"I didn't expect you to be this fit Benji," I begin to say. "I mean, you were just knocked out, and you're already on your feet again, acting like nothing's happened to you at all."

"I've had worse things happen to me, like exponentially worse," Benji says. "I welcome a little involuntary downtime from time to time."

"Do you mind me asking what is exponentially worse than being knocked out because we dropped over hundred meters and the only way to brake was the ground?" I ask while raising an eyebrow under my facemask.

"You'd be surprised. Tell you what, I'll tell you some stories over a couple of drinks once we're out of here."

"Deal," I smile. "If we even get out of here."

Benji lets out a quiet laugh. "Are you doubting my skills Frosty?"

"Of course not!" I say in mock hurt. "But you have to admit that this situation is beyond our control now."

"That might be, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve," Benji says.

"Well, I hope that you'll be able to use them productively."

I never expected to be able to have a nice conversation with Benji in a situation like this. It feels… weird. We're in mortal danger, have a ninety-nine percent chance of death and are both probably heavily wounded, and here we are talking like we're sitting in a booth at the Irish pub, not having a care in the world. I guess it's my coping mechanism. If I had a pack of cigarettes on me right now, it'd probably be empty.

Benji chuckles quietly and we fall into a comfortable silence walking through the corridors of the vehicle bay looking for a way out. Debris and rubble block nearly every path of the tunnels and Benji and I had to squeeze through openings between rubble on a few occasions. I don't even want to know how fucked up it looks topside. If the small, narrow tunnels of the vehicle bay are already FUBAR, the warehouse must look absolutely horrible.

After a few minutes of walking, squeezing through cracks and searching for a way up, we find one. It's a ladder going up to the ground floor of the warehouse, but it leads into a room.

"Looks like this is our way out of here," Benji says as he puts his first foot on the ladder. He turns to me.

"I go up first. I'll tell you if the coast is clear, then you follow me."

"Got it," I nod. This is only one step in getting out of here, the hardest part is yet to come.

Benji climbs up the few meter high ladder. I'm still surprised he's back on his feet so quickly, because I sure as hell wouldn't be up and about this cheerily if I was knocked out.

"It's clear," Benji says from up top and I begin to climb up the ladder as well. The climb up isn't that high, only about seven meters. I'm happy about that too, seeing as I don't want to find myself in a three hundred meter deep elevator shaft again.

As I climb up, the sound of the blaring alarm gets louder, and I manage to listen to it for a good five seconds. I blocked it out until now. It sounds like the alarm that you can wake up to when you own an Apple product, but every few seconds, a voice rings out over the speakers saying _'please evacuate this building'_. The alarm in combination with the voice actually sounds pretty awry because thanks to the huge scale of the warehouse, all the sounds reverberate, giving every loud sound an otherworldly echo.

I climb into the small room with Benji and take the AR off of my back, quickly scanning the area for anything unusual. I know Benji already secured the area, but I'm paranoid and I'm not going to take any chances whatsoever.

"Now what's the next step in your master plan?" I say to Benji in a hushed tone.

"We open the door and head to one of the evac points," he says off-handedly.

"How the hell do you suggest we do that?" I ask disbelievingly. There's no way Benji is taking all of this on without any doubts.

"Simple," he chuckles. "We-"

"Stop," I say flatly. "Stop treating this like a fucking game."

Benji crosses his arms, probably frowning at me. "Enlighten me Frosty, how am I treating this like a game?"

"By acting like nothing is fucking wrong! We're in constant mortal danger here, have about a ten percent chance of survival and you're throwing the _both_ of us into deadly situation after deadly situation and all you can do is laugh it off afterwards!" I exclaim loudly, but not loudly enough for it to be heard anywhere else other than this room.

"If you didn't notice, I'm the one that's gotten us through this thing," Benji says with an angry edge slowly becoming visible in his voice. "If I wasn't here, you'd have been dead."

"And I thank you for that Benji, I honestly do," I begin to say. "But this isn't a fucking game, if we keep doing what we're doing, which is basically going all in and playing poker with death, we're going to run out of luck at some point."

"I know that this isn't a game."

"Then begin to act like you know it isn't! You don't have to prove anything to me!"

"What exactly am I trying to prove?" Benji says angrily.

"To me it looks like you're trying to prove that you aren't afraid of anything, and that danger means nothing to you."

Benji walks up to me and before I can react, he puts his right arm on my neck and slams me against the wall.

"I am afraid!" he shouts at me. "You don't think that I'm scared out of my mind like you are?"

I want to answer but can't. He's cutting off my air flow.

"If I truly was treating this like a game, then we'd both be dead. I'm well fucking aware of the situation, I don't need some rookie to tell me what I'm doing wrong or right."

I begin clutching at my neck. The lack of airflow is making me feel dizzy already.

"Do I make myself clear?" he snarls, and I manage to nod weakly. Benji lets go of my neck and I'm sent falling to my knees.

"Now, follow my lead or I'll leave you here to die."

I get pick up my AR off the ground and slowly get up on my feet. I didn't expect Benji to become this defensive, but it doesn't matter now, I'll try and talk to him when all of this is over. I'm not gonna dwell on it now anyway. I never really ever was a person to hold grudges against somebody.

"Yes boss," I deadpan and begin to aim my rifle at the door.

"Just because I'm pissed at you doesn't mean that we're not friends anymore Frosty," Benji says while hacking into the door controls. "Just don't accuse me of any kind of shit again. I tolerate enough shit and that just so happens to be one of the things I don't tolerate."

"Understood," I say as Benji opens the door in front of us. I can understand Benji. Tensions are running extremely high here and I would probably blow a gasket too if someone began accusing me of something.

The door whooshes open and instantly, the smell of fire enters my nose. The alarm has gotten louder by a tenfold and the screams and shouts of the people are just a loud as the alarm is now.

"Jesus H. Christ."

Benji and I walk out slowly and are met with a sight that none of us expected to see. While the lighting in the warehouse is still a dark shade of red thanks to the facility wide lockdown we caused, it only adds to the hellish scene that is unfolding right around us.

Fires have broken out everywhere we look and parts of the walkway, some big some small are strewn all over the warehouse, lodging themselves into shipping containers, knocking over vehicles and giant towers of boxes and just generally leaving a path of destruction in its wake. The tower itself basically never existed when looking at it now. The six story high structure completely gave way to the old mining elevator and all that's left is a small, few meter high pile of rubble surrounding the mining elevator which we crashed down on. The elevator looks unscathed surprisingly enough.

What surprises me the most though is the fact that large chunks of the roof itself have come tumbling down onto the warehouse floor. It looks like a war broke out in here, but only two people caused it. This feels absolutely surreal.

"Damn," Benji mutters as we walk out of the door and into a large clearing of the warehouse.

"We did that," I say in awe.

"We'll have to admire our work later, we need to make it to the evac point," Benji says.

"Lead the way," I say as I scan the area with my rifle raised up.

"Front entrance it is," Benji says quietly as he looks at a map of the facility on his omni-tool.

"What the hell do you mean, front entrance?" I gawp at him.

"By front entrance I mean front entrance," Benji says off-handedly. "It's the closest way out of here."

I groan. "Whatever."

"Follow me and stay low, we don't want the entire warehouse chasing after us. They probably think that we died in the crash."

"Quick question. What exactly are we going to do once we reach the main entrance? I mean, they're not going to let us walk out are they?"

"They'll have vehicles there, we'll take one."

I shrug as I look back to see if anyone is behind us. Surprisingly enough, the part of the warehouse we're at is completely empty. Well, I did see a squad of merc's on the other end of the clearing, but they were running in the opposite direction. Not to mention the fact that they didn't notice Benji and I.

We begin walking through the maze like corridors of the warehouse in a comfortable silence. I've began blocking out the alarm again as it would've driven me crazy otherwise. The time it takes to get to the main entrance is exponentially longer than it should be. Almost every path we take is blocked off by rubble and containers that have collapsed together. Sure, we could squeeze through, but that would mean that we'd open ourselves to enemy fire if we get spotted. The same applies to climbing over the mountainous wreckage, a sniper could just pick us off.

"Stop," Benji orders suddenly as he's about to round a corner. "Security mech's down the hall. A lot of them."

"Do we go past them?" I ask as I stand behind Benji, looking down the other direction of the hallway.

"Can't this is the only way to get to the main entrance."

"Seriously? There's no other way?"

"There probably is, but we don't have time to go sneaking around a fucking huge warehouse, we'd be here for days."

I sigh internally. Sometimes I still wonder why I signed up for a job like this.

"Alright, how many mech's can you count?" I ask.

Benji doesn't reply for a minute. He's probably counting in his head.

"Fifteen LOKI mech's, one YMIR."

"How the hell are we going to get past that?"

"We're not going to bog down and fight, we're going to take out as many as we can before reinforcements arrive. While we're doing that, we make our way across the hall and into the next one that'll be on our left side."

"Do we have any way of taking out the big daddy mech?" I ask.

"I still have explosive charges in my pack, we could use one to at least put him out of commission."

"Lead the way," I say as I turn my attention to the way Benji is facing.

"Just do what I do and you'll survive," Benji says. "Ready?"

I give Benji a nod. I'm not ready at all, but here goes nothing once again.

"Go."

Benji whips around the corner and I follow him. He fires his pistol at one of the LOKI mech's, hitting it right in its neck. The mech's head leaves its shoulders in a shower of sparks and it topples to the floor like a ragdoll. I look to my left and see the hallway that Benji was talking about. It's about fifty meters down the way we're currently sprinting.

I aim in the general direction of the mech's and squeeze the trigger of my AR, releasing a short burst of mass effect rounds down the hall. Five of the rounds miss and go wide but one connects with a mech's right arm, causing it to fall limply to its side. I need to better my aim while moving.

Luckily enough, there's rubble in the middle of the hallway that's at about chest high level. If I didn't know any better, it's like we were supposed to come here. Chest high walls always indicate a firefight when it comes to the Mass Effect universe. Benji is already crouching behind the rubble and I dive behind it just before the mech's start firing. The sound of hundreds of bullets behind ejected simultaneously and whipping over my head is terrifying and I'm lucky enough to just have gotten behind cover.

I flop onto my stomach and instantly roll over on my back and sit up against the wall. My heart could generate electricity of Istanbul at the rate that it's pumping.

"Now what?" I yell over deafening sound of the gunfire that is whooshing over our heads.

Benji says nothing, but he holds up an explosive charge. If he didn't have his helmet on, he'd be grinning from ear to ear. I hold my gun over the debris shielding us from imminent death and begin to blind fire over it. Maybe I'll hit something. I'm sure as hell not going to stick my body out into the open, I'm already a walking corpse as it is. I need to get to Garrett quickly, I don't want to bleed to death internally.

Benji tosses the explosive charge over the wall and detonates it as soon as it hits the ground. I hear the sound of at least three LOKI mech's getting shredded to pieces by the charge, but before I can peek over the wall, the YMIR mech winds up his machine gun and begins firing at us again.

"We're going to need more than that!" I shout over to Benji as he tosses another explosive charge over the wall."

"I know!" he yells back. "We just need a window of opportunity to get to that hallway!"

"Suggestions?!"

"We throw every explosive thing we have!" Benji responds as he tosses me two more explosive charges from his pack.

"And then?"

"Then we run!"

"Fuck!" I shout as I get myself into a crouching position which I can start sprinting from.

Benji tosses his charges one by one to where he thinks the mech's are located and I do the same with the two charges he's given me.

Just as we're about to run, two human mercs round the corner and see us. Benji detonates all the charges and they explode with such force that I'm knocked on my ass.

The two mercs that rounded the corner behind us are knocked slightly off balance, but they regain their footing quickly and immediately open fire.

"Benji!" I shout to him and his shields begin to flare as he takes off in a run towards the hallway. I vault myself over the wall as my shields begin to flare and I look towards Benji and my heart stops beating. The YMIR mech is still standing. It might be missing an arm, but his other arm aims towards Benji and fires my worst nightmare towards him.

A rocket.

Just before the rocket hits, Benji's shields die and he hurls himself forward. The rocket goes off about two meters behind him and he is sent flying forward and into the hallway. I don't waste any more time and launch myself off of my feet and I begin to sprint for the hallway. Within a few seconds my shields die down and I feel the impact of at least four bullets punch themselves into my body. I am now literally a dead man walking.

I dive just like Benji did right out of the line of fire and into the hallway. I pick myself up off the ground and see Benji crumpled against a wall. He's missing an arm.

"Benji!" I yell as I run over to him.

"Hey Frosty," he coughs. "Looks like we're having a bad day."

"We need to get out of here, now," I say as I open Benji's pack, taking out a carbon ziptie. I loop it around the open wound where his arm is supposed to be and pull it together tightly, causing Benji to cry out in pain. I then take out a syringe that contains painkillers and take of his helmet, after which I ram it into his neck.

Two of the four bullets that hit me landed in my upper left arm. One hit me in the chest and I instantly began bleeding out of the mouth while the other lodged itself in my left thigh.

"Frosty," Benji begins. "I don't know if we're going to make it."

"Of course we are Benji, don't talk like that," I say reassuringly. I know that he knows that I'm lying. We're probably going to die here. "You just need to get up man."

The two mercs come around the corner and begin firing again. I don't hesitate a second and pull my pistol as well as my AR and begin to fire at both of the mercs. They're only about fifteen meters away and I manage to drop one before he can react properly. I drop the other ones shields and finish him with two shots to the head with my pistol. My shields are at ten percent and I look to my left and see the YMIR mech lumbering towards me. I waste no time and sprint back to Benji who's gotten to his feet carefully. He's lost a lot of blood.

"We need to go," I say hurriedly.

"Lead the way Frosty," Benji says weakly as he begins to stumble after me. Sure, the painkillers might kill the pain outright like it did with me, but it doesn't refill a bodies blood levels, and Benji has lost a ton of it.

The YMIR turns the corner and fires another rocket, but it misses us for the sole fact that we rounded another corner. For the next minute or so, Benji and I keep running and turning corners to lose the YMIR mech that's tailing us.

Right as we round the last corner, Benji collapses again. I run over to him and get him back on his feet.

"Benji, are you alright?" I ask, knowing full well that he isn't.

"I'm fine," he tries to say resolutely, but he sounds exhausted. "Just a little tired is all."

"Look, we just need to go a little longer, then we'll be out of here, but you have to promise me that you aren't going to fall over again."

"I'll try my best Frosty," Benji says. "Whatever happens I want you to know that you've been a good friend to me."

"Don't talk like that man, we're both going to make it out of here," I say as I we start walking down a narrower hallway now.

Benji chuckles mirthlessly. "Yeah, we wouldn't want you to lose your favorite drinking buddy, now would we?"

I genuinely laugh at Benji's remark. Whatever he situation, he can always crack a joke.

"Who else would I down a bottle of Jameson with?" I smile at him, and he takes off his helmet and smiles at me as well.

"I couldn't breathe in that thing anyway," he says quietly. "Give me a minute, and then I'll be ready to go."

I sigh. "Alright, a minute."

Benji slides down the side of the container and opens his omni-tool, only to close it a second later due to the fact that he can't really use it with only one arm. Benji sighs and puts his head in his hand. Losing and arm must be tough, I hope that I never experience something like that.

I scan the two entrances into the hallway regularly with my assault rifle. I'll give Benji two more minutes.

"Ready to go," a voice says behind me, and I whip around to see Benji standing in front of me.

"Are you sure?" I say while raising an eyebrow. "You took a hell of a hit back there. I can understand if you want a little more time to rest."

"No, I'm fine," Benji reassures me. "I needed the break, but I'm ready to crush some heads now."

I sigh. "Let's go then, keep close to me."

We slowly walk down the hallway to the T-junction that mouths into a large clearing of some sort. I have a bad feeling about this. Clearings are not a good sign.

I turn to Benji and walk up to him.

"There's a clearing up ahead, you wait here while I go check it out."

"No, I'm coming with you," Benji says as he wants to push past me, but I grab him by the shoulders and push him back in front of me.

"You've lost a lot of blood, you're in fighting shape right now and I'm not going to put your life on the line. I said that the two of us are going to get out of here and I mean it alright?"

"I am fine!" Benji says angrily. "Do not treat me like a wounded dog. I can fight!"

"Listen to me!" I exclaim. "I am not letting you get yourself killed just because it'll speed our escape up."

Benji scowls at me. "This is not earth David! This is Chalkhos! Kill or be killed!"

"I understand!" I hiss. "But sometimes you gotta wait until your strike back. Throwing away your life needlessly will not make this situation any better."

Benji scoffs. "Like you know anything about throwing away your life needlessly."

"Benji, I'm begging you, don't go out there."

"You can't stop me."

I ball my fist and hit it against the container angrily. "You know what? You're right, I can't stop you. If you want to get yourself killed, be my guest! But there's one condition. You follow my lead."

Benji waves his arm through the air. "Last time I checked, I was in charge," he says and barrels past me, pushing me to the side. I run after him and put my hand on his shoulder to stop him, only to be met with the barrel of his gun pointing right at my face.

"You touch me one more time, you die."

"Benji please, you're not thinking straight," I say while raising up my hands. I pull down the part of the mask where my eyes are and spit a large glob of blood on the ground. I open my omni-tool and administer a dose of medi-gel, and the cooling sensation puts me somewhat at ease. This punctured lung is giving me a hard time when it comes to breathing.

Benji shakes his head and walks away. I put my hand on his shoulder again and he whips around and slams the gun into my face. I lose my footing somewhat, but feel no pain. Benji then proceeds to slam me against the wall like he did in that small room.

"I warned you Frosty. You know Chalkhos, promises are kept."

"Benji p…please rethink thi… this. I'm your friend."

"You broke the golden rule, I told you that if you touched me one more time, I'll kill you, and now I have to follow through."

"Benji, this i… is different."

Benji seems to come to his senses as he lets me go. Benji groans, and it sounds like he's growing more desperate by the second. He turns to me and sighs.

"No hard feelings," I say. "Tensions are running high, but I promise to get you out of here."

Benji thinks for a second, and he sighs again. He looks absolutely exhausted.

"Let's just get out of he-"

_'__Crack'_

The sound of the shot is heard clearly over the sound of the blaring alarm. It's as if time stands still and I begin to inspect my body for any bullet wound. I don't find any new one and I look to Benji, which makes the hairs on my neck stand on end.

Benji is looking at me with wide eyes, he's clutching his chest and I see his hand begin to turn red. He looks at his own hand and turns pale.

"Frosty, I-"

Another shout rings. The front of his head gives way to the mass effect round that entered the back of his head, and my armor is covered in a red coat of blood. Benji crumples to the floor instantly.

My eyes grow to the size of plates as I look at Benji's lifeless body.

This isn't happening. This is not happening. No, no, no, no, no, please let this be a joke. I don't get another moment to think about the situations as another shot rings out, but I manage to dive out of the way before it can connect with my face.

I fall to the floor and shoot up instantly, breaking out into a full blown sprint now. Adrenaline is numbing all my senses. I only have one thing on my mind now: Survival. I don't care who's going to see me run through the clearing now, I just want to get out of here. It feels like the walls are closing in on me as I barrel into the clearing and into the heart of it. I don't even notice the two mercs that are standing on one end of the clearing as they yell at me to stop, or the fact that they've opened fire.

Luckily, they don't hit me as I disappear into another hallway. I don't stop to think where I'm even going, I just keep running with my pistol in my hand. I feel like crying, but I can't as all the emotions that want to escape bounce off a wall called survival instinct.

After what seems like hours of running and evading bullets, I reach another clearing. I stop running and catch my breath for a second. I look around and spot something that could be my ticket out of here.

I front of me, I see a skycar with that eerily familiar _'H'_ on the side. I run to the car and look for some way to open it, but I quickly realize that door handles are obsolete in this universe, seeing as everything either slides open or is used in conjunction with an omni-tool.

Just as I'm about to smash the windshield with my pistol, I hear a pair of footsteps coming my way. I quickly disappear behind a large box conveniently situated in the clearing.

After a few seconds, the two mercs that shot at me at the last clearing enter this one.

"We need to report the sighting to the boss, he'll want to know that one of them is still alive," the batarian guard says as he opens the skycar.

"Well why don't we just radio him?" the human merc says. "That's a lot easier than flying all the way to see him."

"Lanzotti, ever since those two terrorists destroyed the tower, communications have been dead."

"Oh," Lanzotti replies. "Well, makes sense I guess."

"Come one, we don't want to waste anymo-"

The batarian doesn't have a chance to react as I whip out from behind the box and pull the trigger. He seemingly doesn't have any shields as it takes only one bullet for him to drop dead to the floor. Lanzotti raises his shotgun, but I shoot him in the leg, which makes his shot go wide as he drops to one knee.

"What the fuck?!" he shouts as I walk up to him. "Who are you?"

"That isn't important," I say as I kick the shotgun out of his and. I spit another large glob of blood out of my mouth and onto the ground. I need medical attention.

"You think you can just come in here and murder innocent people?" Lanzotti snarls at me.

"I don't see anyone innocent here," I say. "Just a bunch of lowlife thugs."

"Coming from the one who just killed everyone's families!"

"What are you talking about?" I say, trying to keep a neutral expression.

"You mean you didn't know?" Lanzotti scowls. "That tower housed the entire science staff and their families! Children, mothers! Innocent. People."

The sentence hits me like a brick. I didn't. I wouldn't.

"You're lying," I say. "You're bullshitting me!"

"Why do you think we're evacuating the building? We're getting the other civilians out of here so we can hunt you down without harming anyone!"

"No, you're lying," I say disbelievingly. "There were no children in there."

My mind can't process this. Every fiber of my body is telling me to snap out of it and wake up now. This can't be happening.

"You really didn't know," Lanzotti scoffs. "Well, I hope the lives of two hundred civilians will have made destroying the tower worth it."

Two hundred. Two. Hundred. I am at a loss for words and I just stare at the wounded merc in front of me. Then I was right all along. Those screams of pain, they were those of innocent people after all. I try to speak, but I can't as I'm left staring at Lanzotti.

He sees this as an opportunity and lunges for his shotgun, but I react automatically and put a bullet in his head. Every move that I make feels robotic, like I've been programmed to do it.

I hollowly walk into the skycar and take a seat in it, pressing a button that closes the doors and leaves me encased. I don't blink as I turn on the engine and while I only got a crash course in flying a skycar once, I robotically lift off and fly towards the giant doors. Nobody seems to notice me as I whoosh by the crowd that has gathered in front of one of the military checkpoints. I fly up a giant tunnel that leads upwards and before I know it, I'm outside and back in the beautiful landscape of Chalkhos.

The red light of the sun shines on my face as I begin to fly a large detour back to Tarvus's shop.

Just then, my omni-tool beeps and I pick it up, only to be met by Tarvus himself.

"David," he says curtly, but I don't respond.

"Good job on destroying the Flex, what you and Benji did will put Ukathan out of commission for a long time."

I nod weakly as I keep my eyes planted on the windshield.

"But at what cost," I say on the verge of tears.

"Benji will be honored for his sacrifice, I promise you that. You get the next two days off, not to mention a raise. You don't know how much you've helped me."

"Yes boss," I say weakly.

"See you back at the shop David," Tarvus says and cuts the call afterwards.

I can't keep it in any longer. I release the floodgates and let the tears flow freely. Benji is dead, and I still can't believe it. I couldn't even say goodbye properly, I was forced to leave his body behind.

Not to mention that I killed over two hundred innocent civilians. What the hell is wrong with me? At what cost did I destroy a drug for someone. Was it even fucking worth it? Of course it wasn't

At what cost would anyone ever kill over two hundred civilians only to destroy a tiny sample of a drug. Was it worth losing the only person over that you considered a friend in this place?

No, no it wasn't. Nothing was worth it, nothing is worth it and nothing will ever be worth it. I just want to die. I can't forgive myself for what I did.

I angrily spit a third glob of blood out and it splats onto the windshield in front of me.

Benji, I'm sorry.

The next half hour of the skycar ride I spend in my robotic mode, quietly sobbing to myself. No amount of praise from Torben or Tarvus is going to make me see this mission as a success.

* * *

I set down the skycar on a public parking spot by the Aerinus docks. I don't bother to pay for a parking ticket, so the clerk that walked up to me and asked me to pay is now on the floor and unconscious.

I begin my silent walk back to the shop while keeping my mask on, which garners me a lot of sideways glances from the people walking by me. I don't give a shit if I'm covered in blood, or that I have a mask on, or that I have multiple bullet wounds. I see a few people taking pictures with their omni-tools and shooting videos. My guess is that all of that will be posted on the Extranet by the end of the hour. People will do anything to get a good picture that they can post online.

I walk through the doors of the shop and am met by Torben, who smiles at me like I've never seen him before.

"Rookie! You're back!" he says happily as he slaps me on the back. "I am proud of you. You took all my lessons and put them to good use."

I nod weakly and walk by Torben and into Tarvus office.

I see Garrett sitting on one of the chairs in front of Tarvus desk with a sad expression written on his face.

"David, please take a seat," he says kindly. Garrett looks at me and gives me a small nod of acknowledgement."

Before I can take a seat, the reality of the entire situation hits me like a ten thousand ton space ship and all the pain in my body flares up. The adrenaline has seemingly made short work of the pain killers in my body.

My broken arm, sprained ankle, bite wound and multiple gunshot wounds all start to burn in excruciating pain.

I fall to the floor and convulse, only able to let of a blood curdling scream before I pass out from the pain.

I just want to die.

* * *

He didn't expect this at all. Something like this shouldn't have worked! This facility was too high of a security level for two people to come in and destroy everything. What would his benefactors have to say about this? He was at a loss for words.

Ukathan only realized something was truly amiss when he got the message that the mining elevator dropped onto the tower, effectively killing everyone inside. He still couldn't believe it, so he had to go see for himself, and what he saw shocked him to the core.

Basically everything he had built up was utterly destroyed.

A mercenary in black armor ran up behind Ukathan.

"Sir, we found a body, the other man got away in one of our skycar's."

"Take me to him, now," Ukathan ordered and began to follow the merc.

It didn't take long for Ukathan to reach the body that was left in one of the hallways of the container maze, and he instantly recognized the grey armor that the dead man wore.

To be perfectly honest, he had always suspected it to be him in the back of his mind, but now that his suspicions were confirmed, it only made his blood boil more. He turned over the body and snarled ferociously.

"Tarvus."

* * *

_Intense chapter!_ _David is at his emotional end. First, his only friend dies and then he finds out that he inadvertently killed over two hundred innocent civilians. That's enough to make anyone lose it. Leave a review telling me what you thought of this chapter. I'm sorry it took longer than a week to update, the trade I'm learning is taking up more time than I thought._

_I hope you liked the chapter and I appreciate any feedback you guys have for me. Also I hope you liked the song I put in for you guys, and I hope it fit into the flow of the chapter._

_Anyway, see you guy's next chapter!_

_Cheers!_

_David_


	12. Firestarter

_Hey everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of Reduced Mass! Last time around, we finished the warehouse mission, but at a cost. The one person that David could call a friend on Chalkhos was killed on the way to the exit of the warehouse. David is falling deeper and deeper into what Chalkhos is and by the looks of it, he won't be able to get out any time soon._

_Also, the playing field is going to be changing now that Ukathan's business has been crippled for a while. But, Ukathan still has a few aces up his sleeve, one of them being the support of his mysterious benefactor/ supplier. Who is he you might ask? Only time will tell. What I will tell you though is that as we are nearing the end of act 1, things are going to be heating up on a much larger scale. Now that Ukathan knows that Tarvus ordered the warehouse destroyed, it won't take much to spark an all-out war in the streets of Aerinus._

_Once again, I can't thank you guys enough for all your support and feedback. Reduced Mass has surpassed 10k views, which is absolutely amazing. You guys are what keeps me going!_

_Now, I don't want to keep you guys waiting anymore, so I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

_P.S.: This chapter is going to be an interaction chapter, as the past three chapters with action packed. A break from the action is good every once in a while._

* * *

**January 15****th****, 2175: Two hours after Benji's death.**

"This could have been avoided, Ukathan."

The batarian merchant bows his head in shame. He knew that he messed up big time, but he couldn't find an adequate reason to explain how two people destroyed an entire warehouse and killed hundreds of his, and his benefactor's employees.

"I… it could have, yes," Ukathan stammers. "I don't know how it happened."

"How many people did we lose?" the male voice asks calmly. His face was covered in a shroud of darkness caused by the lighting. All Ukathan could see was the _'H'_ encased by a hexagon on the left side of the man's white coat.

"Th… the entire primary science staff, half of the secondary science staff, two hundred and sixty three members of the security staff and an undetermined number of civilians."

"This sets my plans back immensely Ukathan," the man says, still keeping an eerily calm demeanor about him. "Are you aware of that?"

"Yes sir," Ukathan says instantly.

"I trusted you with an important job, and you failed."

"It won't happen again," Ukathan says resolutely, straightening his back slightly. He wouldn't fail the man who made so many things for him possible again.

"That is correct, you won't fail again."

"Understood," Ukathan says and begins to turn around to walk out of the room, but he is stopped one last time by his benefactor.

"Ukathan, tell me," the man begins. "Do you know who did this?"

"Tarvus Melril," Ukathan spits. "We've been fighting over control of the market district for years now."

"Thank you Ukathan, you are _dismissed_."

Before Ukathan can turn around to walk out of the room, a large knife emerges from the middle of his ribcage. Ukathan manages to begin pained scream before his mouth is covered by a metallic hand, which causes to room to descend into silence aside from the sound of blood dripping onto the ground.

After what seems like minutes of Ukathan trying to struggle free from the metallic clutches of his murderer, it twists the knife to the side and rips it out to the right, causing an '_L'_ shaped cut and effectively cutting Ukathan's heart in two. Without another sound, the merchant falls to the ground with a muffled 'thud'.

The metallic creature steps forward and into the light, easily kicking Ukathan's corpse to the side, and at just over seven feet tall, it dwarves any human. Its humanoid face is void of any emotions and is painted a sickly grey color with dim yellow eyes shining through the darkness. It has long, thin legs and arms that make the robotic creature look almost spiderlike.

"We are assuming direct control of this operation now," Ukathan's former benefactor says with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "First, we need to get rid of this Tarvus that's been causing us trouble, and anyone that used to oppose our old friend Ukathan here. In fact, get rid of anyone that wasn't working for Ukathan before."

"What would you have me do?" the creature says in a menacing low, bass heavy rumble of a voice, his mouth opening like a ventriloquist dummy when he speaks but not moving when he starts to.

The man leans forward and a visible smile begin to form on his face.

"Assemble the ground forces. We are going to take Aerinus by force."

The humanoid stands unmoving.

"Primary function code. Pacify. Stabilize. Control."

The robotic creature whirs in affirmation and turns around to walk out of the room, his weight making each step sound like a stomp.

The man on the line leans back in his chair and cuts the call. It was only a matter of time before he could see his plans through to the end. He just needed to bide his time until Chalkhos was his, then he could begin his experiments.

* * *

**January 22****nd****, 2175: One week after Benji's death.**

I wearily open my eyes to a dimly lit, sterile looking room with nothing in it but the bed I'm lying in and what seems to be a holographic heart rate monitor. The air smells clean and everything is a clean shade of white.

I look to my left and see Tarvus standing by the bed, greeting me with a small smile.

"I'm glad you finally decided to wake up," Tarvus says in a somewhat relieved tone. "Things have gone to absolute shit around here."

Before I can reply, a large explosion from further away makes the room shake harshly.

"What the hell is going on here?" I ask.

Tarvus chuckles dryly, the sound of his flanged voice almost being completely drowned out by another explosion.

"You, my friend, have sparked an all-out war."

I did what?

"I don't think I heard you right," I begin to say. "I sparked an all-out war? How?"

"Simple," Tarvus smiles. "The warehouse you destroyed set things into motion."

Right, the warehouse, now there's something I don't want to remember. Especially for the fact that Benji died in that warehouse. There's no way I can't not think about it, and it's bringing back bad memories of the nightmares that I've been having while I was out. I don't even want to recount those.

"That still doesn't explain the war, or whatever it is that's going on outside," I say a little impatiently.

"You were right about Ukathan having someone funding him," Tarvus says as he pulls up a chair beside the bed. "That someone just happens to be one of the richest people in the traverse."

"Who is he?" I ask curiously, sitting up in the hospital bed.

"Kevin Clamely," Tarvus says.

Why does that name sound so familiar?

"And what exactly does he do?"

"That's the thing, nobody really knows."

I furrow my brows. "What do you mean, nobody knows?"

Tarvus leans forward. "He just sort of appeared about ten years ago, at least that's what the open records say."

"And how did he get all the money?"

"Probably doing what he does now," Tarvus shrugs. "Being a behind the scenes investor comes with a lot of benefits."

"That doesn't really add up," I muse. Someone can't just appear and make a fortune in a few years, unless you're really lucky.

"Doesn't matter now anyway," Tarvus says as he stands up. "What's important is that we pissed him off and now Aerinus is one giant warzone. I got reports that the Flex farms are under attack as well, but that might just be a rumor."

"So you're saying that the way Benji and I handled the mission caused the barrel of pent up violence to explode?" I ask.

"No," Tarvus shakes his head. "We just pissed off the wrong people."

"Oh," I deadpan. "Well, when exactly did the conflict begin?"

"About two days after we brought you to the hospital."

My eyes widen in shock. "You mean I'm in Aerinus General?!"

Tarvus nods calmly. "Yeah, it was the only place that could handle your injuries."

"What about the fact that Doctor T'neria wanted to kidnap me and ship me off to some guy because I have no records?"

"I paid the bounty three times over, and the bounty has been put on _'hold'_."

"What do you mean on hold?" I ask. Things have started making no sense again, and I don't like it.

"It means that at least Aerinus General is going to stop pursuing and advertising the bounty," Tarvus answers nonchalantly. "Chax and Heral, not so much."

Well, at least a little bit of good news manages to reach my ears. But by the looks of what Tarvus, the rest of the squad and I started, another bit of good news seems far off. I guess only two of three people pursuing the bounty is good enough for now.

"How'd the conflict start?" I ask, changing the subject.

"A few hours after we dropped you off at the hospital, these merc's in jet black armor began appearing in the streets, tearing up any store that they walked by. They started throwing everything into the middle of Market Street and began setting it on fire."

"I'm guessing not a lot of people took too kindly to that?" I quip, making Tarvus chuckle.

"You know Chalkhos. Within the first half hour, ninety-nine percent of the merchants and guards the merchants employed began shooting back and defending themselves, which only caused a larger force of those goons to appear."

"And within the next few hours, all of Chalkhos was a warzone?" I ask, finishing the story for Tarvus.

"Exactly," Tarvus nods. "It's been a war of attrition for the last five days. No one is gaining or losing any ground. But it's not looking that good for us."

"Who exactly is 'us'?" I ask while slowly sliding towards the edge of the bed, letting my feet hang off the edge of it.

"The conflict is roughly split up into four factions," Tarvus begins to explain. "First, there's the merc's and Ukathan's thugs and merchants, then there's the rest of the merchants on Market Street and a few smaller merc groups that were employed at the time."

"What about the Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse?" I interject.

"I was getting to that," Tarvus says. "The big three have formed a temporary alliance to push Clamely's merc's back and reestablish their old statuses of power. Clamely is proving to be bad for business. But, they're also shooting at us. Their reason, or so they say is that we'd just take territory from them in the chaos so we're under fire from them as well."

"Who's the fourth faction?"

"The residential area and its inhabitants."

My breath hitches. That is a big, big problem. There's over three hundred thousand people living in that area, and they've been cut off from the rest of Aerinus for years now. They'll take their opportunity to seek revenge, and it'll probably be nigh impossible to stop them because of numbers alone.

"All of the residential area?" I ask somewhat nervously.

"Yes, but luckily their infighting has proven to keep them somewhat at bay. The only thing that's changed now is the fact that they can roam Aerinus freely if it wasn't divided. The blue suns roadblock was one of the first things to fall in the fighting."

"How's the territory split?"

"Clamely and his army of goons have the upper hand, for now. They control the spaceport, Market Street and the airspace around Aerinus. The big three have been pushed into roughly the half of the central hub."

Tarvus reaches into his pocket, taking out a small flask of what seems to be alcohol. He unscrews it and takes a swig before putting it back into his pocket.

"The hundreds of thugs, mercenaries and criminals of the residential district are fighting amongst themselves in small pockets of resistance all across the station and its tunnels and alleys, but a lot of them are still in the district themselves. They also control the other half of the central hub and the entertainment district."

"What about us?" I ask.

"We managed to take control of Aerinus General, banding together with the other two merchants and his employees as well as hospital staff and security, which has helped in boosting up our numbers."

I whistle in amazement. "This is a tough pill to swallow boss."

"It definitely is, but I'm glad you're awake again," Tarvus says, and it sounds completely sincere. "We need all the firepower and able-bodied men and women that we can get. You're still a viable aspect of my team."

"I'm just surprised that I'm alive," I sigh.

"I am too," Tarvus says. "With the amount of blood you lost and bones that were broken, you were basically a walking, talking corpse."

"I thought I only broke my arm?" I say with a raised eyebrow.

"You broke a lot more than that, the doctors had you x-rayed and it turns out that your hip was fractured in multiple places and that you had seven broken ribs."

"Damn," is all I say, which makes Tarvus laugh.

"Damn is right, the surgery to completely patch you up took around two days, and you've been out until now."

I don't say anything, I just let the situation sink in by itself.

"The doctor should dismiss you in an hour or so, you should be in fighting condition by then," Tarvus says as he stands up.

"I suggest you go eat something as well, you haven't eaten anything real in a few days, and I don't count that liquid that the hospital force feeds you with as food."

I chuckle. "Thank you for not getting rid of me Tarvus. I'm sure it would've been easier to just hire someone new."

"Oh please," Tarvus says. "After what you did for the business, you're a full-fledged member of the team."

"That's great to hear," I say.

"We'll need a new enforcer now that Benji's gone," Tarvus says and his mandibles drop.

The small smile on my face disappears as well as I am remembered that Benji isn't there anymore. I don't know how to feel about it right now, I kind of feel numb to it at the moment, like it's just a bad dream.

"How did Garrett take the news?" I ask.

"He was hit hard by Benji's death, I gave him some time off, but that was cut short due to the conflict that broke out a few days ago."

"I guess you could say that this conflict is a good distraction. Keeps your mind from wandering," I say thoughtfully.

"I guess," Tarvus shrugs. "As long as he is capable of fighting, I'll give him all the time he needs to mourn."

"Is he here?" I ask, but Tarvus shakes his head.

"Yeah, he's organizing the defenses of the hospital. Torben is here as well, but he's focusing more on planning counterattacks to give us some more breathing room."

"Are we stuck defending the hospital?"

Tarvus nods. "We are, and we're a high priority target as well, seeing as this is the only place in Aerinus with large amounts of medical supplies. Aerinus General is more or less our base of operations. From here, the leading merchants, employed merc's and enforcers plan our course of action."

"I've never been a fan of politics," I quip. "It must be impossible for anyone to get a point across when everybody has different ideas and plans."

"The thing is," Tarvus begins to say. "They elected me to be the leader of the operation."

"Moving up the ladder quick I see," I laugh. "How's the new role treating you?"

"It's a tough job, but if I can help in restoring Chalkhos into what it once was, I'll do everything in my power to see this thing through to the end."

"Ah, I remember you telling me about the way things used to be," I say. "Is that your plan? To put Chalkhos into the hands of a group of people that'll restore order?"

"I guess you could say that," Tarvus says as he stands up from the chair beside my bed. "It'll be a long way, and we'll need all the help we can get to actually make the goal a reality. We are by far the weakest faction at this moment."

"That's an ambitious goal to set. We'd need to get through Clamely, the big three and the hundreds of thugs from the residential area."

"A little ambition never hurt anyone," Tarvus chuckles.

"I'm coming along for the ride," I say, and Tarvus's mandibles widen in a smile.

"I'm glad to hear that," he says as he walks to the door. "I'll get a doctor to come dismiss you. Your armor is in the locker on the wall over there. Your pistol and assault rifle are in there as well."

"Thank you, boss."

"No problem," Tarvus smiles. "Oh and David?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy belated birthday," he says, and I give him a nod of thanks. Tarvus walks through the door and it closes behind him.

I completely forgot that it was my birthday today. Well, I guess that happens if you're unconscious for a week. I'm twenty now and I've been here around three months already, which it didn't feel like at all. I still got many years ahead of me, seeing as I'll be twenty-eight when the events of Mass Effect roll around.

I guess presents will have to wait.

I slowly stand up from the side of the bed, and surprisingly enough, I feel extremely well rested. No pain, no numbness, no headaches, nothing. Maybe I should knock myself out for a week a little more often. The only downside is this hospital gown I'm wearing.

Another explosion rocks the hospital and the ground shakes momentarily. I really set off a chain of events didn't I? If I knew that destroying the warehouse was going to start a war, I probably would've not done it and left.

I open the locker and take out my armor, which hasn't been repaired yet. There's still bullet holes everywhere, blood stains, scorch marks and that Varren bite mark. I'm going to have to get this repaired sooner or later, but I don't think anyone here could repair my armor right now.

Hold on, there's a helmet in here, and it sure as hell doesn't look like my old one. I take the helmet out of the locker and turn it in my hands to get a better look at it. It looks exactly like the one I had that was broken in the warehouse. The only difference is the white stripe running from the bottom of the helmet where my chin is over my head and down to my neck. I gotta say that looks pretty badass if you ask me, I wonder who gave it to me.

I begin to put on my armor, which proves to be somewhat of a chore again. I struggle in getting my under-suit on and I only manage to pull the part that covers my legs and waist on before the door whooshes open again.

"Hey doc," I sneer. I turn to Doctor T'neria and cross my arms over my bare chest. "Come to sell me into slavery again?"

"No, I assure you I won't do that," she says professionally. "I've just come to do one final medical check-up before I dismiss you."

"I assure you, I'm fine," I say dismissively as I start to put on my armor again.

"I'm just going to run some scans, try to hold still."

I groan and stand still as the asari runs her omni-tool up and down my back. It's only when I hear a confirmation ping that I continue putting on my armor again.

"Everything checks out David, you should be good to go."

"Thanks," I say sarcastically.

"Look David, I know you're upset that I wanted to sell you, but if we're going to survive the war that _you_ started, we're going to need to at least trust each other a bit."

"I don't trust you and will never trust you," I say as I push the chest plate onto my under-suit. "I know how Chalkhos works and as soon as this conflict is over, you're going to pursue the bounty on my head again like nothing has ever happened."

"Alright," Doctor T'neria shrugs. "I see that you're not entirely stupid."

"Nice try in attempting to gain my trust though," I say sarcastically. "It would've worked when I first got here."

Doctor T'neria laughs dryly. "You fit right into this place actually, I almost regret shipping you to Omega."

I raise an eyebrow. "You wanted to ship me to Omega?" I ask calmly.

"Yes," T'neria replies. "Aria wanted you to work for her."

"Aria T'loak wanted me to work for her?" I ask in a surprised tone.

"Yes, she contacted my almost immediately after I sent the message to my contacts that I have a person here who has no records."

"Huh," I shrug. "You can tell her that I'm not going to take up her offer." If there's one then I don't want to do now, its transfer from Chalkhos to Omega. It's like going from one pile of shit to the other.

"We'll see, Aria always gets what she wants in the end."

"Whatever," I say as I put the last part of armor on my under-suit. "Now, is there anything else you wanted to speak to me about?"

"No," Doctor T'neria says. "Although, I do want you to know that while this war is going on, I'm not going to stab you in the back. Once it's over though… that's a different story" she smiles smugly.

"I understand," I say offhandedly. "And I won't murder you until this war is over. You are pretty high on my kill list, you know that right?"

Doctor T'neria's eyes widen for a split second. "Are you sure you want to kill me? I have friends in high places."

"Look, I don't give a fuck about your friends in high places," I sneer. "Once this conflict is over and resolved, you are dead."

"Fine," the doctor smiles, but I can see that it's not a genuine one. "Have it your way."

"I will."

The asari says nothing as she walks out of the room. God, I hate that woman. First, she tried to sell m to Aria, who would've forced me to lick her shoes because you _'don't fuck with her'_ and now she comes in here and wants to assert her dominance because she has friends in high places? Well, two can play at that game, and I think I just made her think about who she is going to deal with once this war is over.

Maybe her _'friends in high places' _line works on most people, but I've had that said to me before and to be completely honest, I could care less about the friends she has. We're on Chalkhos anyway, real friends don't really exist, do they? Well, I'd consider Benji a real friends, but he would've shot me as well if he was paid enough money. I'd do the same to him, so maybe that's why we became friends.

My stomach begins to rumble. Fuck, I haven't eaten anything proper in days, I wonder how the food here is. I guess it's time to find out. I take my pistol and holster it and grab a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of the locker.

I exit my room and follow the signs that lead me to the cafeteria. The halls are filled with people running all over the place, wounded lying on the ground with nurses tending to their wounds and people and mechs standing guard in front of doors or patrolling the white halls. I don't stop to look though, as the only thing I can think about right now is food.

A woman suddenly bumps into me and falls to the floor.

"I am really sorry," I say apologetically as I turn around. The woman sits up and looks at me, and we both recognize each other at the same time.

"Good evening Ms. Carter," I say as I hold out my hand for her to pull herself up with.

"John Marston," she says as she pulls herself up. Right, I forgot that I gave myself a fake name.

"How are you?" I ask. Last time around she was a mess.

"I've been feeling better day by day. I was in the hospital having my injuries checked out when those mercs from the warehouse started tearing this place apart."

"Injuries? I thought you left the warehouse after we got rid of that scumbag."

"I stayed in that room a little while longer after you left, and just as I was about to leave, the alarm sounded and from across the hall, another guard emerged."

"Did you get shot?" I ask as I lean against the wall.

"Bullet in the arm, managed to kill him after."

"Where did you learn how to shoot a gun?"

"I used to be a part of C-sec until a couple of months ago," Emily replies. "I was discharged."

"How come?" I ask.

"I don't really want to talk about it," she replies while rubbing her right arm. It's probably a touchy subject.

"Fair enough," I say. "How long have you been on Chalkhos?"

"A month before you found me."

Ah, I don't think she knows how everything works here yet. Granted, I don't know either, but I have a pretty good idea on how to survive here, she might not.

"How did you find your way onto Chalkhos, better yet, how did you end up in the warehouse?"

"It's a very long story," Emily says somewhat sheepishly.

"Well, I'm just about to head to lunch, I'd love it if you could join me," I say in a friendly tone. God, I hope that didn't sound stupid.

"I'm sorry, I can't," Emily says. "I'm open to talk tomorrow if you want. By the way, where's your friend?"

"Dead," I say quickly. I don't really want to talk about this.

Emily's eyes widen in surprise. "Oh, I…I didn't know," she stammers.

I look down on the ground sadly and shrug. "Not your fault, you couldn't have known."

"Did he die in the warehouse?"

"I do not want to talk about it," I say resolutely as I lock eyes with her.

"Well, I'm sure he was a good man,"

"I said I do _not _want to talk about it," I say with a harsh tone in my voice. My eyes are digging into the back of her head and Emily quickly averts her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she says as she rubs the back of her head. "I'm quite stubborn sometimes."

My expression softens again. "Don't worry about it," I say. "Listen, I have to get going, I'll talk to you tomorrow okay?"

Emily nods. "See you then."

We both walk past each other and I keep making my way to the cafeteria. I hope I didn't come off as a complete asshole there. Benji, as unreal as it feels that he is dead, is still a subject that I don't want to talk about at all. The wounds are still fresh and I don't want anyone to reopen them. I just want to forget.

I spend the rest of the walk to the cafeteria in silence. A lot of people greet me in the halls for some reason, maybe it's because of the fact that I work directly for Tarvus, which makes me somewhat of a right hand man to him I guess. Also, that means that I'm directly affiliated with Torben, who is, from what I've heard, the person that's planning the attacks that give the hospital some breathing room. And plus, most people are scared of the titanium man.

Fucking hell I'm hungry.

* * *

"David my friend! Over here!"

I slowly turn to the source of the voice with the full tray of food in my hand. The cafeteria is pretty well stocked on rations for now, probably because of all the merchants bringing their stuff here. I overheard two salarians talking in front of me that as Clamely's mercs were tearing their stores apart, a lot of merchants including the three biggest ones which includes Tarvus had their warehouses relived of anything of value and moved here. That includes rations.

I guess we can thank Tarvus that he took control of the situation this quickly, effectively banding together three rival merchants. Now I don't know where Ukathan is, but I doubt that he'll show up here without being ripped to shreds. He is on Clamely's side after all.

I look towards where the voice came from and see a man waving to me. It's Mr. Ming, I haven't talked to him in a while.

"Mr. Ming!" I say happily as I set my tray down on the table in front of him. "Long time no see!"

"It has been quite some time, hasn't it? Tell me, how are you feeling?"

"Surprisingly enough, I feel great. No pain, no anything," I reply as I take a bite of the large piece of what seems to be chicken on my plate.

"You were lucky that you arrived at the hospital when you did. You could've died."

"You know, I'm kind of used to the fact that I've almost died a couple of times," I chuckle.

"Chalkhos has grown on you," Ming nods. "You fit right into this place."

I'm gonna have to agree with him on this one.

"As much as I hate to say it, this place is my home now, and to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way," I shrug as I take another bite of space-chicken.

"Chalkhos seems to grow on everyone, regardless of how dangerous it is."

"If I ever leave this place, I'm going to have trouble readjusting to a place that has laws," I joke. "I like the fact that I can properly put someone in their place here without any backlash. If they truly deserve it that is."

Mr. Ming laughs. "That is true, no lawsuits or police here."

"It's too bad that there's an all-out war on now, I would've liked some peace and quiet after that fiasco at the warehouse."

"I can't agree more," Mr. Ming says. "I didn't even have time to save my shop."

I frown. "I'm sorry about the shop. We'll make those goons pay for what they did."

"That we will," Ming agrees, frowning as well. "For the good of Chalkhos."

"For the good of Chalkhos," I repeat.

Mr. Ming reaches under the table and into his bag, taking out two bottles of beer and handing one to me.

"Now this is what I'm talking about," I say happily as I open then bottle of beer with the edge of the table. "I haven't had a beer in ages."

"While my shop was being torn apart, I got a message from Tarvus that we should all make our way to the hospital, and I promptly had a large part of my stocks from my warehouse moved here, including a lot of the alcohol."

"You sure know how to keep morale high," I quip and Mr. Ming and I clink bottles together.

"Keeping morale high is one of the most important things to do."

I take a sip of the bottle and let the beer slide down my throat. Goddamn that's good.

"What's your outlook on the situation?" I ask suddenly as I set down the beer.

"It's going to be a tough battle for us, we are the smallest faction after all with the smallest patch of land we can claim under our territory. We are vastly outnumbered and outgunned, not to mention a prime target."

"I've always liked to root for the underdog," I chuckle.

"We have one thing though, and that's supplies. If this is truly a war of attrition, we have a chance of outlasting the other factions… well, aside from Clamely's mercs, they can fly in supplies."

"So that means as time passes, others will join us because they're low on supplies?"

"Exactly," Ming nods as he takes another sip of beer. "Slowly but surely, our numbers will rise. Hell, even some of the big three might defect and join us, we have enough supplies to feed an entire fleet."

"So we're a prime target?"

"We are basically the main target for the big three and those thugs from the residential area."

"How are our defenses holding up?" I ask while leaning forward.

"We're doing fine with our defenses. There's only one main entrance into the hospital and that's been properly secured. What's been helpoing us is the fact that Aerinus General is only accessible through the alleyways, and those wind on forever. Until an enemy squad can even make it to the front door, its numbers have been thinned out significantly."

"I'm guessing Torben has been helping out a bit as well," I state, which makes Ming nod.

"He's created himself a squad that travels through the tunnel systems under Aerinus and lashes out at Clamely's mercs.

"Why only Clamely's mercs?"

"The big three and the thugs out of the residential area aren't stupid, they know that attacking us while we're bunkered down here is absolute suicide. Clamely doesn't and keeps launching attacks at us, which until now, have failed."

I laugh. "You'd think that someone that rich and with the much man power would have at least a little ounce of intelligence."

"That might be," Ming says. "But I wouldn't underestimate him one bit, his mercs are extremely deadly in combat, and they decide to take a lot of prisoners."

"Prisoners? What for?"

Ming leans forward. "I can't say here, I'll have Tarvus fill you in next time you speak to him in private."

"Classified?"

"Not really, but we wouldn't want to drop morale, would we?" Ming smirks.

"I guess you're right," I say hesitantly. Clamely has got to be doing something unorthodox to those prisoners, and I don't like that.

Ming and I spend the next hour or so talking about nothing in particular. He opened up about his past a bit, but that's a story for another time. Let's just say that I wasn't expecting what he told me. I also talked quite a bit about my past, but I had to lie about a whole bunch of things to make it seem plausible. I hate lying, but just flat out telling someone that I'm from the past doesn't really bode well. I'd just get swept under the carpet as crazy, seeing as I don't have any way of telling the future until 2183, and that's a long way off.

I gotta say that I'm beginning to truly feel comfortable on Chalkhos. A few weeks ago, all I wanted to do was leave this place… but it's grown on me quite a bit. Regardless of whether there's a war raging our not, I have enough time to see this through to the end, and by that time we'll have hopefully pushed Clamely and his mercs back into space.

Clamely. That name still rings a bell somehow, and it's nagging me to a great extent that I don't know where I know that name from. I am one hundred percent certain that I know the name, yet the origin of it eludes me.

I need a cigarette.

* * *

I stand up from the table and pick up my food tray.

"Is there anything that resembles a bar in the hospital, preferably somewhere one can escape from the bustle of this place? I haven't been able to think properly since waking up due to the noise.

Mr. Ming nods. "There is one small bar in the visitor's area by the main entrance. It's only open to higher ranking employees of the three merchants, so you should have no problem with getting inside."

"That sounds great," I say. "I'll speak to you soon Mr. Ming."

"Enjoy your day David," Ming says curtly as I begin to walk away from the table I was seated at.

It was nice talking to someone for an extended period of time. I really love having conversations with people, especially if the conversations aren't one-sided.

I put the tray into one of those carts you would usually see in a restaurant and make my way to the main entrance. I just need some time to think about everything, and if that means sitting in a quiet bar and having a stiff drink, so be it.

This hospital is a lot bigger than I remember it. There's a lot more hallways and elevators than I noticed last time. Granted, I was running away last time I was here and didn't get a chance to look at the scenery.

The walls are still as white as ever with the exception of a few blood stains here and there. The hallways are filled with wounded after all. I can't even begin to imagine what Clamely did to all the people that were minding their own business a week ago. I mean, he just had his mercs walk in and kill everything on sight, and for what? He's got some underlying reasons which I have yet to find out, but I'm pretty sure I will soon enough.

As I walk down the halls, I manage to pass by Tarvus's new office. Maybe he'll have some time to explain this situation to me.

As I walk through the door, I'm suddenly stopped by a shotgun that's been stuck in my face.

"Identify yourself," the human says in a demanding tone.

I look past him and see Torben looking at the guard with raised eyebrows.

"My name's David, I work for Tarvus," I say as I want to walk past, but he steps into my way again.

"I'm going to need to see some ID," he says.

"Are you kidding me?" I say angrily. "You're not going to see my ID, just ask Torben over there if he knows me or not."

"Sorry," he smiles smugly. "No ID, no entering. Now I suggest you leave."

He pushes the shotgun into my face.

"Do that again," I say calmly. "And I swear to god you are going to regret that."

The smug security guard smirks. "I'm giving you ten seconds before I call backup, and let me tell you, you do not want to meet my friends. They are going to make you have a very bad day."

"Go on, call your boyfriends," I smile. "It's cute to see you hide behind them, is that the only thing they let you do? Or is there more to than you're letting on?"

The security guard's smirk turns into a frown. "You are going to regret that," he sneers as he pushes the shotgun into my face again.

Before he can react, I bring up my left hand and slam the shotgun upwards and out of the guard's hands. I then grab him by the right arm and turn my back to him before pulling him over my shoulder, making him slam onto the ground with a dull _'clang'_.

"I told you that you were going to regret that," I say as I rub my hands together.

"In fact, I do know him," Torben says, and the security guards angry expression turns into one of shock.

"You're lucky he didn't kill you," Torben deadpans. "Next time you see someone wearing armor that looks like the one I'm wearing, don't fucking threaten him."

The security guard stumbles to his feet. "Understood, sir," he says as he walks out of the room and positions himself in front of the door outside.

"What an asshole," I say as I walk to the table where Torben is seated.

"Glad to see that you haven't become completely useless, rookie," Torben says, but it's a lot less hateful than it was before.

"Thanks," I say offhandedly as I take a seat across from Torben. "Is Tarvus around?"

"He should be here by now. He wanted to talk to the both of us anyway, so it's convenient that you're here."

"And Garrett?"

"He should be here as well," Torben says. "He's always a little late to meetings anyway.

"Alright," I say as I put my legs on the table. "What was with the guard anyway?"

"I don't know," Torben scoffs. "He just came in and said that he was assigned to guard Tarvus. Like he can't take care of himself."

I scoff. "That guy couldn't guard a pastry without getting its ass kicked by it."

Torben laughs. "That pussy is anything but a man."

"You got that right," I chuckle. "Like you said, Tarvus can take care of himself."

The door opens and Garrett walks in, greeting the both of us with a sincere smile. I don't think I'm going to mention Benji in front of him, he's probably sick of people talking about it right about now.

"Sup Garrett," I say as I give him a small wave. "Did the security guard ask you for any ID?"

"No, he didn't," he says as he sits down next to me. "Though he used to, and I always told him to fuck off."

"Rookie over here put him in his place," Torben says.

"Good on you kid," Garrett smiles. "That guard is a massive cunt anyway. Acting all high and mighty because he was assigned to protect Tarvus. We all know he can defend himself, right?"

Torben and I nod as the door on the far side of the room opens and Tarvus steps out.

"Gentlemen, we've officially made galactic news," he says as he presses a button on his omni-tool which turns on the holo-screen on the wall. We all turn our heads towards the screen as the news broadcast plays.

* * *

_"__And now we shift out focus to the Terminus Systems ladies and gentlemen," the turian newscaster says in a professional voice._

_"__It has been one week since mysterious vessels have appeared in orbit of Chalkhos. This unidentified fleet of ships is numbering at around seventy eight and has recently begun bombarding the surface of the planet save for the capital city of Aerinus."_

The scene switches to a view of Chalkhos with a large number of jet black vessels orbiting around it, with the bigger ones firing at locations on the planet. After a few seconds, a small black ship flies by and shoots the camera drone, making the picture turn to static. The turian newscaster remains incredibly un-phased and begins speaking again.

_"__Reports say that the capital city of Aerinus has been turned into a full blown battlefield after the army in black made a surprise appearance in the capital and began wreaking havoc on the populace."_

_The scene switches to a man standing in the central hub with a hand on his ear wearing a headset._

_"__This is Gregory Patrick reporting live out of Aerinus for ANN. I am currently in the basecamp of the mercenary groups that have banded together to stop the onslaught of the mercs in black."_

The camera shifts to a large Krogan in red armor standing with his arms crossed and a sneer on his face. Is that… Garm?

_"__Garm, what is the situation in Aerinus?" the reporter asks in a calm demeanor. He must've seen a lot of shit in his time, probably even the first contact war._

_"__It's rough, but we are making those bastards in black pay the blood price every step we encounter them."_

Really, they could've picked someone better to interview. I mean, Garm is just a bloodthirsty krogan who doesn't really rank that high on the intelligence scale.

_"__Do you think that you can pu-"_

A shot rings out and hits the reporter in the neck, the mass effect round punching its way clean through. Gregory begins to grab at his throat before dropping to his knees. You can hear Garm ordering people around off camera and gunfire drowns out any other noise. The camera drone pans towards the mercs that have opened fire. The scene itself is pretty grim. Wounded and dead litter the floor and fires are visible in a lot of places.

Gregory's gargling can be heard for a few more seconds before another sniper shot rings out and destroys the camera drone. After a few seconds of static, the broadcast cuts back to the turian newscaster, who's looking at the screen with a shocked expression.

He looks back to the camera and clears his throat.

_"__Nobody knows who these men in black are," he begins to say hesitantly. "If they are a threat to the rest of the traverse? That remains to be seen, so join us at eight when the galaxies leading experts on terrorism and ex mercenaries discuss the rising threat of the army in black."_

The turian clears his throat one last time.

_"__This has been Ruxius Rilius with the Alliance News Network."_

Ruxius gets up in silence and leaves the view of the camera. After ten seconds of silence, a flashy commercial plays and Tarvus turns off the holo-screen.

* * *

"Of all the people they could've interviewed," I begin to say.

"They interviewed Garm," Garrett completes the sentence for me, clearly in as much disbelief as I am.

"This is big," Tarvus says. "Nobody expected Clamely to have a fleet this big, and this makes everything more complicated for us."

"We're fighting an uphill battle," I say. "We're going to need a lot more firepower to get rid of Clamely and his army."

"That's why I wanted to talk to you guys," Tarvus says as he sits down. "We can't utterly destroy Clamely that much is clear. But, if we hatch a plan that'll make Chalkhos unattractive for Clamely, he might leave for another planet."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Torben asks while crossing his arms.

"Well, we know what he wants to do here, so if we hinder his plans at every step, he'll find another world to see his plans through on. At least in theory that'll work."

I shrug. "We don't have any better options right now. Fighting him head on will only get us killed."

"So boss," Garrett says. "What exactly is Clamely's plan?"

"He wants to bioengineer the perfect super-soldier. Now, I don't necessarily disagree with what he does, but his techniques are illegal everywhere but the Terminus Systems."

This is sounding awfully familiar to me, but I still can't put my finger on it.

"So why Chalkhos?" I ask. "Why not any other world in the systems?"

"That we don't know, we only know that he chose this world and he's going to stop at nothing until it is in his possession."

"And the way he wants to bioengineer his super-soldiers?" Garrett asks.

"We don't really know how he's going to go about doing it, all we know is that is why he is taking so many prisoners. And if he succeeds, we are going to fall."

"Boss, have you found out what the 'H' stands for on the armor of those mercs in black?" I ask.

"As a matter of fact I do," Tarvus says as he opens up his omni-tool. "I just need to find the file Mr. Ming sent me."

We sit in silence for a couple of seconds before Tarvus speak up again.

"Found it!" he exclaims. "The intel that Ming provided states that the 'H' on the armor of the mercs stands for,"

Tarvus looks at the data-pad with narrowed eyes. I think he's trying to pronounce it right on the first try.

"Horzine," Tarvus says. "Horzine Biotech."

My body goes rigid and cold at the realization of the meaning of the 'H'. Now I know why the 'H' looked so familiar and why I knew the name Kevin Clamely. That can't be, this should be more than impossible.

Oh my god.

* * *

_Boom! Let's all welcome Horzine Biotech onto the playing field! For those that don't know what Horzine is, I suggest you look up the game Killing Floor and read some of the backstory or just play the game. _

_I have to apologize for the long wait between chapters here guys, work has been real hard on me and I don't have a lot of free time. I hope you understand. _

_Now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it was just a character interaction chapter. David managed to catch up with people he hasn't talked to in a while like Mr. Ming or Doctor T'neria. My characters are not throw away characters that only appear once in the story, save for some. They are reoccurring characters and will appear a more often (In the case of Mr. Ming definitely. The rest is a secret.)_

_Once again, I hope to hear from you guys! Feedback is greatly appreciated!_

_Cheers!_

_David. _


	13. Plan B

_Hey! I'm back again with another chapter of Reduced Mass! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, work has been throwing off my writing schedule quite a bit and to top it off, I was busy getting my driver's license. Add some writers block into the mix, and the delay soup is finished. The good news is, I have two weeks off and I got my driver's license! And to celebrate, my update schedule is going to get put back on track for the time that I have off. My goal is to finish act one in the two weeks, which is a good goal to set If I do say so myself._

_Act one only has about 3-4 chapters remaining and then we get to act two, which is going to introduce some exciting new characters! I'm going to be keeping about 99% of the contents of act two a secret for now but I will say this: We do get to finally meet Shepard. I won't give away when and how, but Shepard will be introduced into the RM storyline!_

_Now, last time around David found out who exactly the mysterious mercs in black are, and the revelation isn't pretty. For those who don't know, Horzine Biotech is a corporation from the game series 'Killing Floor' that wanted to create bioengineered super-soldiers. Their various experiments went terribly and spawned a multitude of murderous abominations. Now, they've appeared in the ME universe and it's up to Tarvus and his allies to stop them from setting their plans into motion._

_Will they succeed? Who knows!_

_I want to thank you guys again for your ongoing support and reviews. Reading your feedback and reviews is what keeps me going!_

_Before we get into the chapter, I want to give two newer ME stories a shout-out. I've been beta-reading for the authors and I have to say that the stories (the first chapters to be more precise) are really good! Go check them out!_

**The Stargaze Effect: **by TheWolfBoss06

**The Lost Ones: **by Alpenwolf

_Now, let's not waste any more time and get right back into the action!_

* * *

"David, is everything alright?"

No, nothing is alright. This situation just got exponentially worse and I'm the only one who knows why.

"I… uh," I stammer. "I'm fine."

Tarvus raises a brow plate. He's not buying it.

"Are you sure?" he asks. "You seemed to go pale when I mentioned Horzine Biotech."

You're damn right I went pale when you said that. If we don't stop Clamely soon, we're going to have bioengineered mutants running around this place.

"Yeah, the name leaves a bad taste in my mouth," I say. "I've encountered them before."

Torben raises an eyebrow. "When?"

"Well, my dad encountered them to be honest," I lie. "You guys remember that he was a small time smuggler?"

Torben, Garrett and Tarvus nod.

"Well, before he dragged me here, he was about to strike a deal with Horzine that would bring him a lot of money. My father started gloating about the deal publicly, and a few Horzine thugs visited our home and trashed it."

My co-workers seem to buy the story for now, which is good. I'm glad that I can be a good liar when I need to be one.

"What happened after?" Garrett asks.

"Horzine cooked up a BS story that made the authorities go after him. That's why we had to leave Alliance space. Granted, he was a criminal, but he was extremely low key. "

"I'm guessing you want revenge?" Torben asks as he crosses his arms.

I nod. "You're damn right I do. I just didn't expect to ever hear that name again. I guess I was just taken off guard, that's all. Horzine is the reason my life was turned on its head."

Tarvus sits down at the head of the table. "That's understandable," he says. Good, he bought it.

"We still need to come up with a plan to get them off Chalkhos," Garrett says as he squints his eyes in thought. "And we're going to need an amazing one."

"We underestimated Clamely," Torben says. "He's got a trained army, we have a loose band of merchants and mercenaries."

Tarvus raises his right talon. "That's why we're here," he says. "Frankly, I don't trust any one of the other two merchants and their entourages. You three and Mr. Ming are the only people that I trust completely in this place."

"Well, we should wait for Ming to get here before we start planning," I say, placing both my elbows on the table.

"I sent him a message," Tarvus says. "He should be here any minute now."

I turn around and look at the door of the office, expecting Mr. Ming to walk in right on cue in a movie like fashion. After a few seconds, I shrug and turn around. Movies make everything look so much cooler.

I reach into a pouch on my left attached to my armor and take out a pack of cigarettes and my Zippo lighter. I stick a cigarette between my lips.

"Anyone want one?" I ask as I look at my three co-workers seated around me.

"I'll take one," Garret says, and I quickly light my cigarette before sliding him the pack and lighter.

I like Chalkhos' smoking laws, by which I mean there are none. Back in Germany, only designated public places allowed smoking, and that was usually just a bar downtown. Here, I can smoke whenever I want, and with a job as stressful and dangerous as this, that's a godsend.

"Thanks," Garrett says after he takes a drag.

I nod in affirmation. I have no idea how we're supposed to beat Clamely. I mean, I've played Killing Floor and I know full well what he is capable of once he starts creating his mutant abominations. The worst thing is, I can't tell anyone about it, otherwise people would start asking questions.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, and while Garrett and I smoke our cigarettes, Tarvus walks over to a cabinet and takes out a bottle of turian brandy and a glass. I think he might be an alcoholic, seeing as he never leaves without a flask of brandy.

Just as I press the butt of the cigarette into the ashtray, the door whooshes open and Mr. Ming walks in with a smile on his face.

"Sorry, I had trouble with the security guard out front," he says.

I begin to smile as well. "I'm guessing he won't be bothering you anymore?"

"Exactly," Ming says happily as he sits down across from Tarvus at the other head of the table.

"That guy needs to know when to quick," Garrett says while shaking his head. "He got his ass kicked twice in one day. I think he might need to change professions."

Garrett's comment gets a round of chuckles from the group now seated at the table in Tarvus's office.

"Now that our informant is here, we can start thinking of some way to at least disrupt Horzine's plans."

"Got any more intel, Ming?" I ask.

"Not much, but sources tell me that Clamely has been transporting a lot of equipment into the empty warehouses that are located in the spaceport. Now, what exactly the equipment is, nobody really knows, but-"

"Well, we know Clamely's intentions," I interject. I might as well put my knowledge to good use. "He wants to bioengineer the perfect soldier, so my guess is that he's turning the warehouses into labs."

"David has a point," Tarvus says while tapping a talon on his lower mandible. "I don't think he'd be transporting anything else into empty warehouses, it's not like he wants to set up a business here."

"How big are the warehouses?" I ask. "They're not as big as the old platinum mines turned warehouses, are they?"

"Not at all," Ming says. "They're only a fraction as big, but there's dozens of them in the spaceport."

"So how do we go about disrupting Clamely's operation?" Garrett asks.

"We could launch surprise attacks on the warehouses," Torben says. "Catch them off guard."

"I'm not setting foot in another warehouse on this planet at least for another ten years," I say while raising up my hands. "One mission in a warehouse is enough for me."

The room goes quiet. I guess nobody really wants to talk about what happened in the warehouse. Granted, neither do I. I blocked out most of what happened anyway. Protection mechanism I guess. I just dread the day where all of the bad memories are unlocked and flood back into my head.

"Is there another way of disrupting Clamely's op?" I ask, effectively breaking the awkward silence.

"As small as our _'faction'_ is, I don't think we have the manpower to do anything else," Tarvus says. "We need to use our numbers to our advantage, and that advantage is striking where Clamely least expects it."

"Wait, what about the big three and the residential area?" I ask. "We're at war with them too, why are we ignoring them?"

"We can't split focus, rookie." Torben says. "Besides, the big three and the residential area thugs aren't attacking us, so why waste lives attacking them?"

I shrug. "Good point, but how do we even get into the warehouses?"

"The maintenance tunnels under Aerinus connect every district, every arm of the station and so on. If we small teams through the tunnels, we could reach the warehouses undetected."

"Wait, didn't you say that the tunnels under Aerinus are infested with the thugs from the residential area?" I ask.

"They are," Tarvus says offhandedly.

"Then how the hell are we supposed to get through the tunnels without being detected?"

"I'll have to figure that out. I'll send some people into the tunnels that we can class as 'expendable'." Tarvus says.

"The tunnels are crawling with the residential thugs," Torben says. "We're going to need a lot of expendable personnel. If they die in the process, then they die. As long as they do their job and find us a safe way through, I don't care how many people we send down there."

Tarvus looks at a datapad. "I've spoken with the other two merchants a few days ago and asked them to class their staff from important to expendable. By the looks of the numbers we'll have about two thousand 'expendable' staff members we can send into the tunnels at any given time.

"Are you serious?" I ask with a wave of anger beginning to take hold of me. "You are going to send people to their death, just so you can figure out how you can potentially send more people to their death?"

"It's the only w-"

"No, it's not. It's just hypocritical," I sneer. "Here we are talking about not wanting to waste needless while creating a plan that wastes lives. Now if you can't spot that backwards logic-"

"Well do you have a better plan?" Tarvus interrupts in an annoyed tone.

"No!" I exclaim. "I just don't think this plan is going to work! What happens if we send in the first suicide team and they can't bring back proper Intel? And what happens when the second, third, fourth fifth team suffers the same fate? Soon, we're just going to have a hospital full of cripples and cooks!"

I look to the rest of the team sitting around me. Garrett seems like he is deep in thought while Mr. Ming is looking at the table with an uncomfortable expression. Torben looks like he's about ready to kill me. If looks could kill, I'd be dead multiple times by now. I guess he doesn't like it when people question the boss, but with a plan this dumb, I can't just sit around and accept it, even if I won't be the one going into those tunnels.

Sure, I might be a criminal by today's standards, and to be honest I don't care about the people that would die in the tunnels, but if we want to at least survive the war, we can't just send people to die because of a shoddy plan.

Tarvus looks visibly angry. His right talon has a very tight grip around his glass of brandy. I'm surprised it hasn't shattered yet.

I take a deep breath before continuing to sleep. "I just want you to look at the bigger picture of this conflict. If we throw lives away like this, there won't be anyone left to defend the hospital, which is our only safe haven by the way."

"I am well aware of the bigger picture, David." Tarvus hisses. "I have at least twenty more years of experience in this that you, so while your opinion is appreciated, it won't really get factored into the planning process."

I raise my eyebrows. "Good to find out about it now," I say while crossing my arms. "You know I'm right boss. We can't spare that much manpower."

"If you have nothing more productive to say rookie, I suggest you take a seat and keep your mouth shut," Torben speaks up while glaring at me.

I shake my head and take a seat. I don't mumble anything under my breath, because I know if Torben heard me I'd be dead. We might be on better terms, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pick a fight with him. He's basically Gregor Clegane.

"Now," Tarvus begins. "We're going to send four man teams into the tunnels, preferably with at least one person that knows their way around said tunnels. They're going to be equipped with mapping devices where they can mark down and secure the best way into the warehouses."

"Sure, now we're giving the residential thugs expensive hardware too," I say while shaking my head, which results in Torben shooting me another glare. This is ridiculous. How can someone as experienced as Tarvus come up with a plan as dumb as this?

Tarvus looks at me disdainfully. "David, if you don't agree with the plan, you can always leave. But that way you'll be kept in the dark like the rest of the people that aren't in this room. It's your choice."

I stand up from the table. "I'd rather not take part in the needless waste of lives."

"Coming from the one who killed over two hundred civilians?"

I guess the suppressed memories come back sooner than later. I tense up and look at the person who just triggered all my bad memories coming back. Torben. I knew it was going to be him.

"That was different," I say while glaring at him.

"In what way?" he laughs. "You wasted hundreds of lives for the completion of the mission. This isn't any different."

"I… it is!" I yell. I can't think up a good counter argument, which leaves me a flustered mess. The anger in my body is slowly rising with each passing moment.

"Again, in what way?" Torben taunts. "Explain to me how you are better than all of this."

"I… I" I stammer. He's right, I'm not better than this. I am a part of Chalkhos and I'm in too deep to change that now, even though I'm currently trying.

"See? You're not any different. Now I suggest you sit your fucking ass back down and go along with the plan, or I'm going to put you into the first team set to explore the tunnels."

I stand my ground stare Torben dead in the eyes. I know that I can't win this, but I want him to know that I'm not going to back out as easily as he thinks I will.

Torben goes a step further and pulls his gun and points it at me, which Tarvus didn't even expect as I see his beady eyes grow wide. Ming and Garrett stay completely still and watch the events unfold calmly.

Nonetheless, I stand my ground.

"Rookie, do you really want to do this?" Torben sneers.

I spit on the ground before beginning to talk, all the while I'm keeping eye contact.

"This plan isn't going to work, and you're going to kill me over it?" I ask. "Get over yourself Torben, we're wasting manpower that we desperately need by doing this. The tunnels are overrun by those residential thugs. We're outnumbered in the hundreds of thousands, do you see the problem?"

"Don't speak to me like I don't know what's at stake here," he growls. "I know full well."

"Then why are you going along with this plan? It's a not good one, or an effective by any means. It's a desperate thought that we're putting into action on a whim."

"Sit down, or I will shoot," Torben says.

My mind is screaming at me to sit down and just go along with the plan, but my legs remain in their place. Maybe it's the thought of Benji and I killing civilians that is making me want to right the wrong that I committed in the warehouse that's making me hold my ground. I might be losing my morals, but they're not completely lost, are they?

A know forms in my stomach as images of the burning warehouse fill my mind and the sound of the screaming after we crashed through the tower fills my ears. I desperately try to lock the sounds and images back into the back of my mind- to no avail.

"You're going to have to shoot me then," I say before I've realized what I just said. I'm running on autopilot. "If we go through with this, we lose the war before we even get a chance to fight back."

"Then you have made your choice," Torben spits. "I thought you were better than this."

Torben raises his gun again and aims at my head. I ignore every plea my mind is making to get me to move and stay completely still. Even though I regret this decision immensely, there's no turning back now… I've made my choice, even though it'll be all for nothing, seeing as Tarvus and Torben are going to go through with the plan once I'm dead anyway.

I guess this is it then.

"He's right."

What?

"He's right," the voice repeats. I get broken out of my trance and look to my side to see Garrett standing as well. "It is a stupid plan," he says.

Torben growls and keeps the gun trained onto me. "Do you want me to shoot you as well?" Torben says while looking at Garrett.

"No, I want you to put away the gun and take David's suggestions seriously."

Torben doesn't move. "Why?"

"Because he's right. His mind isn't clouded by dreams of power like yours and Tarvus's is. Being a realist in this kind of situation helps."

Damn, never did I think that Garrett would stand up for me. I was that close to getting myself killed. I'm going to need to buy him a couple of drinks.

"If you have a better plan, I'm all ears," Torben says.

"The B tunnels."

Whatever Garrett means by that, it effectively gets Torben's eyes to widen in shock.

"You're joking."

I look to Garrett, who shakes his head. "Nobody would expect it. The tunnels have been out of use for decades."

"I must say, that is a pretty bold plan," Mr. Ming muses. "But no one is stupid enough to enter the B tunnels without an army."

"What are the B tunnels?" I ask with a confused expression.

"Your idea of a plan is complete suicide," Tarvus says, effectively ignoring me. "We all know what's down there."

"I don't" I say. "It'd be nice if someone could shed some light on this."

"One try," Garrett says. "I'll go down there myself. If I fail, you can go through with your plan boss."

"I don't know," Tarvus says. "I don't want to lose an important member of my team."

"I'll go too," I suddenly say. "It can't be that bad, right?"

Tarvus looks at me as if I'm stupid. "So I can lose two members of my team? I don't think that's happening."

I raise an eyebrow. "Now I'm an important member of the team?" I ask incredulously. "You were going to let Torben shoot me."

"If I had to pick between you and Torben, I'd pick Torben," Tarvus shrugs. "In that situation, I picked Torben."

I'm surprised I didn't see that coming, I am on Chalkhos after all.

"Well whatever the B tunnels are, I volunteer to go down there with Garrett."

"Just one shot boss, even if we do die, you can hold things together with Torben just fine."

Tarvus thinks for a moment before speaking.

"Garrett, David, leave my office for a bit, I need to talk this over with Torben and Ming."

I breathe out a sigh of relief. That went better than expected for me.

Garrett and I begin to head for the door.

"David, one more thing," Tarvus says. I turn to look at the turian.

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again."

I don't say anything as I turn around and leave the office. Sure, the stunt I pulled is dumb in every way, but someone had to tell Tarvus what a stupid plan that was. I mean really, sending soldiers into the tunnels just to get themselves killed by a force… or forces that outnumber us a thousand to one really isn't the best of ideas. Was Tarvus really willing to throw away two thousand lives just so he could annoy Clamely? That really doesn't sound like him, or at least what Benji made him sound like. I remember that Benji told me that Tarvus always has a good plan. But from the two big plans I've heard from him, his plans don't really seem all that great.

Once I get out of the door, I see Garrett standing across the hall, looking at me with his arms crossed.

"Kid, I always knew you had balls, but that was borderline suicidal."

I shrug. "Hey, Tarvus's plan was absolute shit. I wasn't just gonna sit around and accept it like that."

I pause briefly before rubbing my neck. "I need to thank you as well… for saving my life."

"I wasn't going to let Torben put a bullet in a friend of mine. Torben might be an effective fighter, but he's somewhat insane."

I smile internally at the fact that Garrett called me his friend. I haven't done a whole lot with him when everything was normal the past few weeks, but when I did we got along well enough. It was mostly Benji and I when going somewhere, but Garrett tagged along a few times. The same can't be said for Torben.

"You probably have a lot of questions," Garrett says, interrupting my train of thought. "You know of the bar in the lobby right? The one reserved for A-class personnel?"

I nod.

"They make a great gin-tonic."

"I'm buying," I say. "It's the least I could do after you saved my life."

Garrett laughs. "It's a start."

* * *

I gotta say, this A-class personnel bar is quite nice. Sure, it doesn't dampen the shakes and rumbles of explosions going on outside, but it does offer a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the hospital halls. The bar seats about thirty-five people at very large, expensive looking wooden tables. Their cocktail chairs are the most comfortable thing I've taken a seat in during my entire stay on Chalkhos.

Oh, and don't get me started on their gin-tonic, unless you want me to rant on for hours about how great it is.

Garrett takes another sip from his cocktail. He sets the glass down before leaning back in his chair.

"So kid, what do you want to ask me?"

I think for a second. There are a lot of questions I want to ask.

"What are the B tunnels?" I ask, which effectively gets the few other bar patrons to go quiet and look at me with a mix of shock and disapproval.

I look around with a confused expression. "What?" I ask. "I'm new here."

A few of the patrons turn around and go back to their conversation, but one turian maintains his eyes on me.

"If you're new around here, why are you in this bar? Shouldn't you be helping clean dishes in the kitchen?" he asks disdainfully. Oh great, another unfriendly turian.

The turian's jibes gets a few laughs from around the bar, and he looks properly satisfied with himself. He must think he's a comedian.

"Because I'm allowed to be here," I shrug. "This is a bar for A-class personnel, right?"

"You can't be A-class personnel," the turian scoffs. "Someone as scrawny and weak as you couldn't beat a baby pyjak in a fist fight."

Another round of laughs sound through the bar. I'm not in the mood for this shit.

"Look, friend," I begin to say. "I don't give a rat's ass about what you say about me. But I'm warning you, you don't want to cross paths with me."

The turian begins to glare at me. "Do you even know who I am?"

"No, should I?" I ask with a put-on smile.

"I am the commander of the Bloodwings," he says a little too proudly for my tastes.

Fuck it, I can't and won't avoid this fight. I just want to see him get knocked down a few notches… that'd make my day.

I maintain my fake smile. "The what-wings? Can't say I've ever heard of them."

The turian growls. "We are one of the most well respected private contractor groups in Aerinus!"

I chuckle. "Still doesn't ring a bell buddy. Are you sure you're well respected?"

A few of the bar patrons begin to laugh at my jibe, which is only adding coals into the fire that is the turian's temper.

The turian pulls out a knife and points it at me. "You keep smiling, and I'll carve your face into that of a batarian hookers."

I chuckle and look down at the table while shaking my head. I pull my pistol from my right hip and point it at him.

"And if you don't leave right now, I'm going to put a bullet between your beady little eyes.

The turian doesn't have a pistol and glares at me before standing up. I won this round.

"This isn't over," he spits before storming out of the bar. I holster my pistol and comfortably take another sip of my heavenly gin-tonic.

"Handled like a true Chalkhosan," Garrett chuckles as he turns back to me.

This is so going to bite me in the ass later, but I don't care.

"Now, where was I?" I ask rhetorically. "The B tunnels."

I make sure to say the name a little more quietly than before, and no one seems to hear me say it.

"Oh right," Garrett says as he leans forward.

"Story goes like this, thirty years ago, the secondary service tunnels were still in service- mainly to repair older parts of Aerinus, seeing as the A tunnels were built over top of them."

Garrett takes another sip from his glass.

"It was mainly used as a black market of sorts, with things deemed too immoral for most merchants on Market Street."

"Like what?" I ask.

"Chemical weapons. Real nasty stuff too, which is what brings me to the reason why it closed. Those thirty years ago, on a day where the tunnels were absolutely packed with people, a new shipment of a chemical weapon came in, one which causes '_Brain Rot_'. Needless to say, something went wrong with the transportation of the shipment and the gas was released into the entire B section of the maintenance tunnels."

"Brain Rot?"

Garrett nods. "The poison slowly dissolves your brain, making it flow out of your nose. Species react differently to it. While it outright killed any asari or salarian that inhaled it, the turians and batarians were affected somewhat… differently."

"Zombies?" I ask on a whim.

"You could say that. The gas turned them into mindless, aggressive beasts, partly due to the fact that it melted only a part of their brain away."

"Damn," I say. "I wasn't expecting zombies."

"Neither was I when I first heard of it," Garrett agrees. "The reasons why it is such a taboo subject and place to mention is because most people living here, save for humans, had at least on family member affected by the pandemic. It killed thousands and made just as many into zombies."

"Why did Torben have such a toxic reaction to it if he wasn't affected by it?"

"He's been down there before," Garrett deadpans. My jaw drops open.

"He went down there? Why?"

"He doesn't really like to say," Garrett shrugs. "You'd have to ask him."

"I'll pass."

"You're better off like that," Garrett laughs. "Anyway, my plan was to go through the B tunnels, as no one would expect someone to appear from there, you know?"

"Sounds like a plan," I shrug. "Are some of those things still down there?"

"I don't really think so, it has been thirty years after all."

"And you're sure no one else is going to be down there?" I ask, to which Garrett shakes his head.

"They're sealed. Airtight. Tarvus managed to get the override codes to the hatches and doors that seal the B tunnels, so we should have no problem with entering and exiting."

I tap my chin in thought. "There's probably still some of the gas down there, so we're going to need to use helmets to be able to breathe."

"We'll figure it out when the time comes," Garrett says. "We might not even be going down there. We just gotta wait for the boss to make his decision."

Why do the plans always have to sound so easy? I know something is going to go wrong if we are allowed to go through with this, it's just guaranteed to happen.

"Who else is going to go with us?" I ask. "I mean, most people flinch in fear when I mention the B tunnels."

"Volunteers," Garrett says. "Anyone willing to come with us is welcome."

"Somehow I don't think that that's going to be a lot," I joke.

"We don't need that many people," he says. "We just need to find a route through the tunnels that'll lead us to the warehouses. Most everything is till connected to the B tunnels in some way."

To be honest, I find this plan a lot better than sending in hundreds of other people just to get slaughtered. I mean, as bad as the B tunnels sound, we won't have people firing at us from every direction. We'll probably just be by ourselves.

"Sounds like a plan," I say. "At least it's a better one than the one the boss thought up."

"You're right about that," Garrett agrees. "We don't have enough people for us to be able to just waste lives."

"Exactly."

Garrett leans forward a little more.

"You know what? I don't think we're going to win this war at all," he says in a hushed tone. "Even if we were to annoy Clamely by raiding his labs, it won't be enough for him to leave Chalkhos."

"You're right," I say in a conceding tone. "Tarvus is a good man, don't get me wrong, but he is a bit delusional. He thinks he can restore Chalkhos to what it once was."

I'm glad Garrett and I can agree on the fact that we have pretty slim chances of winning this war. Being the smallest faction is bad. Being outnumbered and outgunned is even worse.

"His intentions are good, it's just the fact that he's completely possessed by the thought of becoming the ruler of Chalkhos that is throwing the wrench into our plans."

I nod in agreement. I told Tarvus that I'm going to stand by him in this fight, but for how long? If shit goes absolute south, I'm going to need a contingency plan to get myself off the planet. Chalkhos is my home, but I'd rather leave before being captured by Horzine or the other factions.

"If things go bad, we're going to need some form of plan to avoid capture," I say to Garrett. "I don't want to be one of Clamely's test subjects.

"While you were out, Tarvus has been planning an escape plan."

"Does it involve heroic sacrifice for the greater good?" I jokingly ask.

"No," Garrett smiles. "Tarvus has a ship, one he used to use for smuggling parked deep in the Chalkhosan countryside. He told me that if anything goes horribly wrong, he along with you, me, Torben and Mr. Ming will take his skycar over there and leave the planet."

"Now there's a plan I can get behind," I say. I empty my glass and set it on the table.

"The only problem is that Tarvus is keeping the location of the ship to himself, which means if he dies-"

"Our chances of escape die as well."

Garrett nods. "But, the war isn't over yet. It's just begun, so we can think about stuff like that later."

"You're right," I say. "No point in speculating about what'll happen in the future."

I look over to the bar and make eye contact with the salarian barkeeper.

"Two more please."

The barkeeper nods and gets to work on creating two more gin-tonics.

"Now, there must be something else we can talk about, right?" I ask Garrett as I slide him my box of cigarettes.

"Sure," Garrett nods. "You watch American football?"

I begin to smile. "You're damn right I do."

* * *

We leave the bar an hour later. Garrett and I talked the whole way through about topics that don't concern the fucked up situation on Chalkhos right now, which is a nice change. We would've talked longer if we didn't get a message from Tarvus telling us to meet him in his office. I'm guessing he reached a verdict on Garrett's mission request.

I hope is goes through. It sounds like a much better plan than just running through tunnels filled with gun wielding thugs and psychopaths.

I did see the bloodwing commander on the way to Tarvus's office though, and he had two other merc's dressed in red with him this time. He shot me a smug smile and while I was looking at him, he began playing with his gun, trying to look menacing.

It didn't really frighten me, so I just gave him the universal sign for _"I'm going to kill you"_. I hope you know what sign I mean. It seemed to have made him even angrier, but he didn't lash out at me or anything. I'll be counting the days until he decides to attack me.

Man, sometimes I think that I'm looking for fights too often, but on the other hand it's extremely hilarious having people react to my insults. Maybe it's not the fact that I'm looking for fights, but people always look to pick a fight with me. I don't even know why it always happens to me… maybe I just look like an asshole. What am I saying I don't look like an asshole, I just get underestimated everywhere I go.

* * *

Garrett and I walk into Tarvus's office and quietly take a seat where we sat before leaving. After a few seconds of silence, Mr. Ming speaks up.

"We have reached a decision."

I clasp my hands together and lean forward.

"We have decided to green-light Garrett's idea," Tarvus says. The knot that I had in my stomach, one which I didn't notice until now is suddenly released. I look over to Garrett who has a small smile on his face.

"We're giving you one attempt to find a way through the B tunnels," Torben says. "One attempt only. If you don't find a way, get killed in the process or fail in any other way, we're going through with the original plan."

The room descends into silence. Well, one shot is hopefully all we need to get access to the tunnels. I'm sure nothing will go wrong… hopefully.

"Understood?" Torben asks, breaking the silence.

"Understood," Garrett and I say in unison.

"Is it just going to be Garrett and me?" I ask.

"We haven't asked anyone else yet," Tarvus says. "But I can contact the other merchants and ask them to send us volunteers."

I nod. "Sounds like a plan. We won't let you down boss."

"I know you won't David. Just don't ever pull any kind of moral bullshit again like you did today. Remember, we're on Chalkhos, not Elysium."

I didn't pull any kind of moral bullshit, I did the logical thing. But whatever, I don't want to start another fight now, it's not worth my time.

"Yes boss," I say in an understanding tone. It's faked, but hey, they didn't notice.

"Now, you're going to be going down there in three days' time, which is more than enough time to prepare and plan your journey."

Three days. Sounds good.

"Any more questions?" Torben asks, to which Garrett and I shake our heads.

"Then you are dismissed Garrett."

Wait, why only Garrett? Oh god, this has do have something to do with earlier today, doesn't it?

Garrett gets up quietly and leaves the room. Once the door closes behind him, the room is drowned in silence once again.

"Stand up," Torben says, and he sounds a little angrier than before.

"What the he-"

"Shut up and stand up," Torben interrupts.

I do as he says and stand up from the table. Torben stands up as well and walks around the table and right towards me. Oh fuck, this isn't good.

Before I have time to react, Torben spins me around to face him and launches a fist at my face.

It connects. Hard.

The sickening crunch of my nose breaking again sounds through the room and I'm sent flying on my ass.

"That's for earlier today," he sneers as he towers over me.

Pain throbs through my body and blood begins to run out of my nose. I guess I deserved it in a way.

"Don't ever try doing that again," Torben continues.

I slowly stand up while fighting off the urge to rip Torben's throat out. This motherfucker is on a whole 'nother level of insane. Sure, I might've acted a little off in the meeting, but I was the only one that really pointed out the flaws of Tarvus's plans. I guess criticism is not taken kindly here.

I walk out without another word, just to see the security guard that I threw over my shoulder look at me from down the hall with a shit eating grin.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" I shout while slowly walking towards him.

"Oh nothing," he smiles. "Just happy at the fact that you finally got what you deserved.

Goddamn, is everyone an asshole here?

"Is that so?" I ask.

"You didn't follow procedures earlier when you didn't show me your ID, so you probably got reprimanded for it by Tarvus," he nods. "So you got what you deserved."

I laugh. "You really are a cunt, aren't you?"

He stops smiling and presses a finger onto my broken nose. I pull back my head in pain.

"I could have you arrested for that. You're on Aerinus General Hospital soil, which means the rules of the security staff are to be followed."

Oh this is rich.

"You are a delusional son of a bitch man," I say. "No one is following your security team's rules at all. You're outnumbered."

You know what, I'm in no mood for a fight.

"You keep believing that," I say dismissively. "Next time you taunt me, you die."

The security guard scoffs. "You wouldn't dare."

"Fucking try me," I say. I spit in front of his feet and push past him. He doesn't try to do anything this time. Good on him.

Now, to get my broken nose fixed again. I'll go see Doctor T'neria, maybe she can tell me why the hell Aria wants me to work for her this bad anyway.

That reminds me, I haven't gotten a message from my mysterious friend GA in a while. I'll message him when my nose is fixed.

I hate broken noses.

* * *

Clamely stands on the bridge of a ship overlook Chalkhos. His white lab coat stands out among the men scurrying around him with jet black armor and grey uniforms.

It's taken years for him to build back up what he once had before arriving here, and he wasn't going to let this planet stop him from achieving what he wants.

Horzine Biotech, his pride and joy… ripped from him twelve years ago. He doesn't know how he got here, but he knew that he needed it back. Selling his services as a bioengineer after learning of the advancements of this universe, he quickly rose through the ranks of Cerberus, gaining more and more recognition from scientists around the traverse.

Sure, Cerberus took him in, but they didn't give him complete free reign over what he could do. Once he had gained enough influence, he left Cerberus, taking a lot of science staff loyal to him with him.

Within two years, his own creation Horzine Biotech was on its own legs again. Within seven years, it was one of the most powerful corporations in citadel space. Nobody really knows how he did it, only he does.

Now, he's one of the richest men in the traverse, and with a small army at his back, the possibilities are endless.

"Sir, incoming transmission from an encrypted source," a voice says, interrupting his train of thought.

"Patch him through once I'm in the com room," Clamely says.

"Yes sir."

Clamely begins to walk towards the com room on the right side of the bridge. Everyone here is in a hurry. He did order the rest of the ground forces to land after all, and it wasn't a small amount of troops either.

Seizing control of Aerinus was taking too much time for him, so he decided that it's best to steam roll his opponents instead. Much quicker and easier.

The screen in the com room hums to life as soon as Clamely enters the room. The large robotic figure that killed Ukathan is seen standing in the main hub. It's covered in blood and scratches.

"Target _[CENTRAL HUB]_ captured," it says in its low rumble of a voice.

Clamely smiles. The central hub was now his. He expected more from the large merc groups controlling it, especially from Garm and his bloodpack. The must've cumbled within hours of the attack.

"Good," Clamely smiles. "Now we just need to get rid of the resistance in the hospital before we can focus on clearing out the residential area."

"What would you have me do?" the robot says.

"New target. Aerinus General Hospital. Primary function code: Purge. Secure. Control."

The robot whirs in affirmation once again and stomps off screen. The video feed ends and Clamely is left with a satisfied feeling in his stomach.

A few more days, and Chalkhos will be his. A new home for Horzine. A new beginning for him.

It would only be a matter of time before Aerinus General would fall.

After that, the harvesting could begin.

* * *

_Things are getting interesting! We're coming up on the explosive finale of ACT I! Things are looking pretty grim for David and the people located in Aerinus General. With the mysterious killer robot converging on the hospital, it's only a matter of time before Tarvus's supporters and Clamely's army come to blows. _

_Will Tarvus and the team survive what's to come? You'll have to stay tuned to find out._

_This chapter was more of an interaction and build up chapter, but I assure you next chapter we'll be seeing some real action._

_Again, I apologize for the long wait on this chapter. I hope that the writer's block won't come up again. Now, with that being said, I hope you guys are satisfied with this chapter. Tell me what you think by leaving a review! I'd love to hear from you guys :)_

_Until next time!_

_Cheers!_

_David._

P.S.: RM has reached 100k words! I'm extremely happy with this. Like I said before, I usually scrap stories after the first few chapters because I think they're bad, but not this one! I love writing this story, which just goes to show how I've changed as a writer! Here's to another 300k words!  



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